About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

"This scar wasn't caused by Silence, but by the aftermath of his slaughter. The only reason I'm still warming myself here is simply because Silence didn't intend to kill everyone."

"..."

The man's extremely calm words made the other reconnaissance soldiers present look at each other in bewilderment, and the expressions on their faces were mostly filled with doubt and disdain for the man's words.

Except for the captain, all the Ursus soldiers in the room were former patrol members who had never actually seen [Silence].

In fact, except for the soldiers of the Third Army who had participated in the Checheng Incident, most of the Ursus soldiers in the north had never seen this terrifying guy called "Silence".

In other words, the people I have seen are basically all corpses.

"Forget it, let's end the discussion about Silence here. There are too many mysteries surrounding him, and even I can't tell what's true and what's false. But there's only one thing I can tell you: if Silence finds you with murderous intent, don't dodge... At least that way you can be killed directly and accurately, rather than slowly bleeding to death in excruciating pain."

The man seemed to recall the past when he said this. Even in the room with a temperature around zero degrees, fine beads of cold sweat still seeped out of his forehead.

"Humph, if you want to be a grandson, no one will stop you! Anyway, if I see that bastard who yelled "Silence," I will definitely make him shut up completely and not be able to utter a single word!"

"oh oh!"

The loudest member of the former patrol team laughed and said so, and the others also raised their hands and responded loudly.

"See this piece of wood? Old man, I just need to give it a little force and break it... Ha! Just like this!"

The team member who was making the noise became more and more excited. He picked up a log from the corner and placed it in front of the man. Then he pinched both ends of the log with his hands and shouted as he broke it into two pieces.

"That bastard called Silent, if he dares to show up in front of me, I will break his cervical vertebrae in two like this!"

"I hope so."

The man looked at the extremely complacent attitude of the man in front of him and said nothing. He just took the wood and threw it into the stove beside him.

He knew very well that these people's arrogance came from their confidence in their own strength, and this confidence came from the stupidity of lack of information.

The monster known as the "Silence of the North"... His appearance is not what most people imagine: "a muscular torso, dagger-like nails, a devilish tail, and a captivating gaze." Quite the contrary, the real "Silence" is just a short-looking teenager.

Although the survivors who managed to survive the Silent's clutches had different opinions on the Silent's race, other than that, everyone had the same impression of the Silent—

He is not tall, has black hair, and is about an adult. Although his limbs have trained muscles, he is still relatively thin overall. He wears simple clothes with a black base and a red logo like DNA printed on the cuffs.

And... following behind the opponent, without any fixed form, an efficient life harvester, known as [Pause].

The man still couldn't forget that day, his first day on patrol in the northern border. He'd assumed the job would be the same as before, squeezing every last bit of value out of the exiled vagrants, then using force to intimidate them into submission.

But what he actually saw was a massacre - no, two massacres.

The first massacre was the slaughter of a settlement by the patrol team. The man couldn't even figure out the reason. He only heard sporadic news that the upper nobles were not satisfied with the recent pace of clearing out the infected, so they urged the patrol team to speed up the process.

However, the choice made by these people in the patrol team was not to really speed up the search to find the infected people hiding in Ursus, but to randomly find a remote settlement that did not belong to the Duke's territory and gather those residents together.

The man already knew what was going to happen next, but after opening and closing his lips several times, he finally chose to remain silent.

The second massacre happened 40 minutes after the first.

When the patrol team, which had forged evidence, was about to leave, they encountered a group of forces claiming to be guerrillas.

Because he had just been transferred to the northern border, the man was not familiar with this force that called itself a guerrilla force, but even so, he was still very interested in the young man who led this force.

"What happened in the village ahead? I can't detect any signal."

The leading black-haired boy asked the captain of the patrol team this question. The scene seemed absurd and ridiculous.

In the north, the guerrillas were considered "pests" to be rounded up and eliminated, while the patrols were a symbol of absolute power that could decide their lives and deaths at will.

Normally, guerrillas wouldn't dare appear before the patrol, resorting only to sneak attacks from the shadows, certain of certain death. But this young man, calling himself a guerrilla, calmly stood before the entire patrol and calmly questioned the leader.

"Are you asking me? Hahahaha! Are you completely confused about the situation? Then let me tell you, I killed everyone in the village ahead—"

brake!

The man couldn't understand what was happening. From his perspective, the first thing he saw was the leader laughing and pulling out a crossbow.

The second scene shows the leader's hands being cut off and flying into the air.

The third scene shows other patrol team members rushing forward yelling.

The fourth image shows body parts and blood splattered everywhere.

It took the man a few seconds to comprehend the current situation. The young man who claimed to be a guerrilla was manipulating a pure black, shapeless blade and continuously slaughtering the patrol members.

It was a complete massacre... The man who understood this turned around and tried to escape, but he bumped into someone who had the same idea.

Tear it apart!

Accompanied by a very clear sound of flesh tearing, the man instantly felt as if his face was hit by the surface of a hot steam exchange tube, followed by a mysterious warm and sticky feeling covering his entire cheek.

The images and pain that were beyond his brain's ability to accept deprived the man of consciousness, and he rolled onto the snow along with the cut-up body next to him.

The last picture was the boy looking into his eyes.

"Your melody hasn't completely sunk yet... Try to survive."

The boy spoke words that the man could not understand, and when he said this, the man could not see any expression, and could not even see the movement of his throat.

It seems to be sadness, it seems to be anger, it seems to be relief, and it seems to be nothing.

After an unknown amount of time, the man crawled up from the ground again. He survived among the countless chopped corpses, with a wound running through his cheek and the fear of being called the 'silent' boy.

------

In the abandoned room, the members of the Northern Reconnaissance Team were chatting loudly about various topics, mostly complaining and bragging.

The man was tired of this conversation. He put one hand on the edge of the bed and jumped back onto the upper bunk bed. He curled up to try to keep his body temperature from dropping, praying that the nightmare would not haunt him after the fire went out, and slowly slowed his breathing.

Just before the man closed his eyes, there was a knock on the door of the small house in the deserted place surrounded by a blizzard.

"Um... could you please let me in to warm myself up?"

"——!?"

The man instantly stood up from the bed, while the others walked to the door while smacking their lips in dissatisfaction.

"Who?"

"I'm just a traveler who accidentally got lost. Please let me take shelter here from the snowstorm."

The young man——[Silence] breathed cold air while smiling and speaking to everyone.

22. The Terror of the Killing

"Excuse me, can you let me stay here for a while? The blizzard outside is so strong that the tent I originally prepared was blown away. Hehehe..."

In a dilapidated hut in a wasteland somewhere in the North, a black-haired boy spoke to everyone with an awkward smile. His cheeks looked a little red due to the blizzard, and he kept exhaling to try to make his hands less stiff.

——【Silence】…!? No, it’s impossible, but… there’s no doubt about it, it’s him, definitely him…!!

The only member of the reconnaissance team who had seen Silence and survived his clutches had his pupils shrunken to a point, and he was shaking and trembling.

The horrific scar on his face prickled once more, as if it had broken open again, bleeding profusely. The nightmare he hadn't forgotten resurfaced as he stared into the young man's eyes, racing through his mind.

"You...you are not——"

"Hahaha, where did you get this little brat? Hey, even if you get lost, there's a limit, right? If you come to a place like this, no one will pay attention to you even if you cry and scream for your mother!"

Although the team leader tried to say something haltingly, his words were interrupted by the harsh laughter of other members of the reconnaissance team.

——These idiots...!!

The leader's heart skipped a beat. He had once easily slaughtered an entire team of 'Silent' in front of him. Although he didn't know why they appeared here, he was now being humiliated by a group of idiots who knew nothing.

The team leader didn't even dare to breathe. His brain was desperately thinking about what to do at this moment, but his body seemed to be frozen and motionless.

He could only watch as Silence frowned slightly and reached into his pocket.

What to do—run? Drop to the ground? Shout your surrender?

No... none of that is right. These little actions mean nothing.

He was an avenger... coming to bring a judgment on himself that was a year late. To take the life that should have been taken a year ago.

In a matter of seconds, the leader's heart went from panic to despair, and finally to resignation. He began to silently wait for Silence to pull the weapon from his pocket and easily kill him. This was what he deserved.

however……

"I have to explain to you seriously—I'm not lost. See? My compass! Even though the map and the tent were blown up into the sky, I can still tell the direction!"

What Silence took out from inside his clothes was not a deadly weapon like a crossbow or a dagger, but a small compass.

He did not kill these ignorant people who humiliated him, but instead loudly refuted them in a tone that sounded a little awkward.

"Compass? Hahaha! You're so funny, little guy. You came to this kind of place with only a compass? Hey, I don't want to be too blunt. Before you continue to die, give us your inheritance for safekeeping."

"Hahahahaha!"

The members of the reconnaissance team continued to mercilessly mock the "brainless brat" in front of them, and the veins on Orson's face became more and more obvious with the laughter.

"here without you--"

"Please come in! There's a huge snowstorm outside. Although this place doesn't provide complete shelter, at least there's a fireplace... but we're not the owners of this room either."

This time it was the leader's turn to interrupt the members, forcibly ending the topic of ridicule, and inviting everyone to enter the room in silence with a very terrifying aura.

Although he was prepared to pay with his death, this was very different from "taking the initiative to die".

He didn't want to die miserably because of these idiotic, childish provocations.

"Ah, thank you so much! It's freezing outside... As expected, after not being back in the North for a long time, I misjudged the environment here. You've been a big help."

"-Uh, no, it's nothing, please don't mind what they said."

The team leader was stunned for a moment. The 'Silence' who was able to wantonly slaughter humans and seemed like the incarnation of death, was now taking off his gloves in front of him, nodding to him with a smile.

And the other person's smile...how should I put it...looks quite cute?

No, no, my brain must be completely broken... This guy is "Silent", a terrifying existence that can turn a patrol team into pieces on the snow in a few minutes!

I actually think this guy is "cute"... I think my brain must have frozen...

The team leader had a fierce battle in his mind, but on the surface, he quietly made way for silence, while Orson slowly sat down by the fire, with a comfortable expression on his face, as if he had run into a hot spring after a day of exercise.

To be honest, she is really cute... Did I recognize the wrong person?

The team leader looked at the silly boy standing by the stove and could not connect him with "silence" at all.

"Phew—I'm alive now. Anyway, thank you all so much."

Orson rubbed his red face from the cold and nodded to everyone again.

Well, even if I'm going to be sliced into pieces by silence in a few seconds, I'm still going to say it now: it's pretty cute.

After hesitating for a long time, the team leader decided to follow his heart. As for the other reconnaissance team members who were originally full of disdain and ridicule, they also more or less restrained their original hostility.

"This kid...tsk."

As the saying goes, don't hit a smiling person. These reconnaissance soldiers originally hoped to have fun by scaring the lost child, but the boy in front of them did not show any fear or panic. Instead, he expressed his gratitude very politely.

And because there is a team leader in the team, it is impossible for these people to strip Orson completely naked. Their captain will definitely stop such behavior.

This guy doesn't look like he's very rich, so there's no point in arguing with the team leader over a guy like him.

In short, for various reasons, "Silence of the North" sneaked into the room of their former biggest enemy, the former patrol team, and happily roasted by the fire.

The cabin itself is not very big, with 5,6 or people crammed inside, each of whom has different thoughts in his or her heart.

The team leader's heartbeat had not slowed down since the beginning. No matter how hard he thought, he had no idea why this young man appeared here, let alone his purpose.

The members of the reconnaissance team were also very curious about why the young man came to the North. From his words, it seemed that this was not his first time in this extremely cold land.

As for Orson, he was sitting by the fire in a daze.

"Speaking of which, what are you all doing here?"

The first person to bring up the topic was Orson, who had just come to his senses. After absorbing enough heat, he asked everyone curiously.

"Of course, we're waiting for the cold snap to freeze our fingers to the point where they'll break easily. Damn it, we're scouting, even though there's nothing worth scouting in this damn place."

One of the reconnaissance team responded with curses.

"Um... I'm sorry, everyone's been working hard, but it's because of your help that Ursus was spared the cold."

One of the team members complained and cursed, while Orson nodded sheepishly to express his gratitude.

"Forget it, we're just abandoned pawns sent here, nobody cares about us... But what are you doing here, kid? This isn't a place a dwarf should be in—Hmm!? What's going on? I suddenly feel a chill...?"

One of the members of the reconnaissance team looked at Orson mockingly, but as soon as he said the word "dwarf", everyone in the cabin trembled as if a knife was held to their necks.

Everyone thought it was just a cold snap that accidentally blew in, except for the team leader - he clearly sensed that the murderous aura was emanating from Silence.