Oh, Iyer! Iyerpol! – Chapter 16

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Though i’m a bit different now, in the past, I was an “ordinary boy,” just like any other, lively and with open eyes.

The reason I, Iyerpol, usually lived with my eyes covered was because of an incident that occurred when I was still a boy.

Today, I think I’ll share a bit of that past story.

I grew up in a small village in the countryside.

The people who raised me weren’t my biological parents, but my adoptive parents.

I heard that I was found as a newborn baby in the forest near the village, wrapped in a thick blanket and crying vigorously.

And inside that blanket…

‘Iyerpol’

…a small piece of paper with that name written on it was found.

That’s how I became Iyerpol.

The hunter who found me, a man from the village, couldn’t bring himself to leave me, so he brought me back to the village.

After a village meeting, I was entrusted to a couple who ran the village restaurant, as they had just given birth and could nurse me.

Those two became my adoptive parents, the ones who raised me.

Although we weren’t blood-related, I grew up quite happily in my childhood.

My adoptive parents, who suddenly had another child to raise, received a lot of help from the villagers, and thanks to that, even though we weren’t wealthy, they were able to raise me without much difficulty.

Kind adoptive parents, a younger sister born around the same time, and me.

That’s how our family of four spent our modest but happy days.

Then, “that incident” happened when I was in my mid-teens.

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“Iyer? Iyer!”

One day, I suddenly collapsed with a high fever.

My parents said they were shocked to find me collapsed on the floor when they came home from working at the restaurant.

They immediately moved me to bed and nursed me, but I remained unconscious for four whole days.

I don’t remember much of what happened back then.

I just remember my body getting incredibly hot, and then my memory went blank.

But the real trouble started when I regained consciousness.

In my memory, the expressions on my parents’ faces when I woke up were as if they had seen a monster from the mountains.

“Iyer… your, your eyes…”

What I saw after recovering from the fever and regaining consciousness…

…were eyes that no longer seemed human.

My eyes, which used to have normal white sclera and black pupils, had become inverted, as if they had switched places.

Just like the demon-like creatures you see in fairy tales.

From that day on, my parents forbade me from leaving the house.

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Half a year after I was confined to the house.

I realized something at some point.

That I had become something no longer easily called human.

I’m not just talking about my outward appearance.

There were significant internal changes as well.

I started to feel new sensations that I hadn’t felt as a human, and conversely, sensations I used to feel as a human disappeared.

Sensations like hunger, thirst, and fatigue, signals that indicated physical needs, almost completely vanished.

Of course, it didn’t mean I didn’t need to eat at all, but unlike before, when I would feel hungry if I missed a meal, I now only felt hunger after a week of fasting.

I didn’t tell my parents, but… such changes, changes that even I thought were beyond human, had come over me.

After forbidding me from leaving the house, my parents desperately searched for the reason why my eyes had changed.

It seemed that both of them, being such good people, couldn’t even consider abandoning me.

They confined me to prevent any misunderstandings from the villagers.

Anyway, they were irrepressibly good people.

“What if it’s some kind of plague…? How are we supposed to explain this to the villagers…?”

“Calm down, dear. I’ll go to the city tomorrow.”

“Do you think there’ll be a solution in the city?”

“I don’t know. But we might be able to find out what happened.”

At first, they thought I was sick.

My father immediately hitched a ride on a villager’s cart heading to the city, and my mother nursed me, believing I was ill.

If they thought I was sick, they should have stayed away from me, but she cared for me deeply, even though I wasn’t her biological child.

“Iyer, are you okay?”

My younger sister, Alize, who I grew up with like twins, often came to see me.

It was hard to call her a sister or a younger sibling…

Of course, she was also forbidden from seeing me, so we talked through the door.

“Al, how was your day?”

“Yeah. I did what you said… But can’t I stop doing this?”

“No, Al. This is something only you can do.”

I hadn’t left the house for half a year.

The villagers, who had seen me actively running around before, would definitely be suspicious.

Why haven’t we seen Iyer?

At this age, it was common to start helping with household chores, so kids my age were all working in the fields or helping their parents with their work.

If I didn’t show up for half a year, people would definitely find it strange.

So, I asked Alize to spread a rumor.

That ‘lazy Iyer hates helping with the restaurant, so he’s holed up in the house.’

“People are starting to think strangely of you…”

“Then that’s perfect.”

“They’re saying you don’t appreciate your parents’ kindness… I don’t want to insult you anymore, or hear others insult you.”

“It’s necessary. I’m sorry, Al.”

If Alize, my family, not a stranger, was spreading bad rumors about me, it would be very effective.

It would sound like I was lazing around behind my doting parents’ backs.

And Alize hated that.

Wasn’t it a somewhat believable story?

Even now, I think it was a good idea.

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The day my father returned to the village from the city.

I still remember the conversation between my parents, which I overheard with my heightened sense of hearing.

In the kitchen, my father was explaining something in a despairing voice, and my mother was sobbing softly.

“How could the heavens be so cruel? What did he do wrong…?”

“Dear…”

“Poor Iyer… What’s that poor child going to do now…?”

Based on what he gathered from stories about demons, monsters, and literature…

It seemed there were records of people whose eyes turned black like mine, transforming into hideous monsters.

My father had been relieved when a scholar in the city told him there was no such illness, but it seemed he found information in a book that said it was a sign of an impending transformation into a monster.

Since I was already feeling the changes in my body, I could understand my father’s words without a doubt.

At the same time, I was able to make a decision about the options I had been considering.

That night.

I decided to leave home.

I gathered whatever I could find in my room that might be worth some money and packed my bag.

I decided not to write a letter.

I thought it would be better for them to think I had left as a monster, rather than leaving a farewell message.

After packing, I took out something I had prepared.

After becoming ‘something other than human,’ I had been trying to adapt.

That was moving around with my eyes covered.

Standing in front of the mirror, I took the cloth out of my bag and brought it to my eyes.

I wrapped it around my head once and tied it tightly.

Even without being able to see, I could sense the objects around me well enough to move, thanks to the senses of this ‘something other than human.’

It was as if the world had become slightly desaturated.

It seemed my efforts weren’t entirely useless.

As I was leaving the house, I ran into my younger sister, who had woken up.

“Iyer, where are you going…?”

Alize, still drowsy from sleep, thankfully didn’t seem to notice that I had a bag with me or that I was wearing a cloth over my eyes.

I stroked Alize’s head.

“I’m going for a walk. I feel stuffy.”

“Okay…”

Watching Alize’s back as she went back inside, I turned around again.

I remember my nose stinging a little, which wasn’t like me.

“Goodbye, Al. And goodbye, Father, Mother.”

That was how I left the beloved village where I spent my childhood.

And the embrace of the family I loved.

For a while, I felt lonely, longing for my hometown, but soon, I was too preoccupied with financial struggles to think about anything else.

Then, I found a way to utilize the advantages of this ‘something other than human.’

As a monster subjugation specialist adventurer.

This is the story of how the Blind Swordsman Iyerpol of Tillasden was born.

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The Adventurer’s Guild in Tillasden was bustling with adventurers and clients, as always.

There were nearly ten counters at the reception desk, but it was still crowded with people.

Ayla, who was busy attending to the throngs of clients, had an unexpected visitor.

“I am Nikolai Tobias of the Phailure family.”

A knight from a noble family and two soldiers.

It was a type of visitor Ayla rarely saw at the Adventurer’s Guild, and they came straight to her counter.

A veteran receptionist, Ayla knew that an unusual visitor meant unusual business.

And as expected, her hunch was correct.

“Do you know someone named Iyerpol?”

“Yes. He’s an adventurer who mainly operates in Tillasden…”

“Where is he now?”

The knight’s aura was intimidating.

Her sharp gaze, as she stared at Ayla, demanded an answer.

“Mr. Iyer is currently out of town on a request.”

“…I see.”

“…May I ask why you’re looking for him? I’ll let him know when he returns to the guild.”

Ayla tried to inquire, but the knight declined her offer with a shake of her head.

Just as she was about to turn and leave with her soldiers, the knight stopped.

She turned her head slightly and looked back at Ayla.

“Has he taken any goblin-related requests in the past few months?”

“Goblins…?”

Iyerpol had stopped taking monster subjugation requests a year ago, and as far as she knew, the requests he had been taking recently were mostly those that involved helping villagers.

“…No. I’m not aware of any.”

“I see. Thank you for your answer.”

With those words, the knight left the guild.

After the knight left, Ayla wondered if she should tell Rigati about this.

It was very rare for a knight to specifically seek out a particular adventurer.

“It’ll be fine… right?”

Ayla muttered, glancing at Rigati’s empty counter.

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Nikolai Tobias, a knight of the Phailure family, was facing a roadblock.

She returned to Tillasden and searched for traces of the adventurer named Iyerpol, but she found nothing significant.

Of course, his name was well-known.

But the rumors among the people were no different from what the soldiers had told her, and the man himself wasn’t even in Tillasden, which made it impossible to find him.

Moreover… she couldn’t find any information related to goblins.

‘No one knows he subjugated the Goblin King?’

He had defeated a Monster King.

If it had been known, a huge rumor should have spread.

That an adventurer who defeated one of the Monster Kings was here.

But people didn’t even know that Iyerpol had subjugated goblins, let alone the Goblin King.

She was stuck, unable to find any further clues.

“Lady Nikolai.”

“What is it?”

“How about visiting ‘that place’?”

“‘That place’?”

The soldier led her to the back of the Adventurer’s Guild, a place that looked like a slaughterhouse.

It actually smelled like one, with the stench of rotting meat from various creatures, making it quite unpleasant.

“This is where adventurers submit proof of their subjugations, like ears or horns. They also receive payment here.”

“I see. So, if he…”

“Yes. If he subjugated goblins, he would have come here to be paid.”

Nikolai went straight to the counter, identified herself, and asked the same question she had asked the receptionist.

Unlike before, the man at the counter gave her the information she had been hoping for.

“That Iyer fellow? Come to think of it, he brought in a whole sack of goblin ears a while ago.”

“…!”

“I don’t know where he got them, but he brought a sack full of them asking for payment. There were dozens of them.”

Nikolai felt a jolt run down her spine.

She finally had concrete evidence.

Evidence that the adventurer Iyerpol had subjugated the Goblin King.

It wasn’t just a child’s humming, but undeniable proof.

“Do you know where he is now?”

“I heard he went to Las Pallas… That’s all I know.”

“I understand. Thank you for the information.”

Nikolai immediately left the Adventurer’s Guild.

Her fists were clenched tightly as she left, unlike before.

“…Investigate what requests Iyerpol took and how long it will take for him to return.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

She hadn’t reported to the Phailure family yet.

To be precise, she couldn’t.

She didn’t have any solid evidence.

But she might be able to report soon.

The day she’ll meet Iyerpol.

Nikolai quickened her pace, anticipating that day.

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