Show Me Your Stats!-Chapter 164

She stopped by the lord’s manor kitchen, packed a meal himself, and headed toward the quarters where Bloom was staying. Without so much as a knock, Ayra flung open the door. Bloom, ever sensitive to the slightest sound, had sensed her approach and was already rising, bowing without surprise. Despite refusing both treatment and food, he wasn’t even lying comfortably on the bed—he was curled up on the cold floor.

“Sir Bloom. How’s your condition? Jinas tells me you won’t accept treatment.”

“I’m fine, my lord. Even this much kindness is more than a sinner like me deserves.”

It’s so dark... Ayra clicked her tongue internally. Come to think of it, she couldn’t recall ever seeing Bloom smile. At first, she’d thought Bloom was simply reserved by nature—but looking back now, it seemed the man had been crushed under the weight of his past all along. Seeing him sit there, lips tightly sealed, Ayra suddenly understood why the quest came with a warning: failure would result in the permanent loss of this retainer.

‘He’s not going to open up just because I ask nicely.’

Just like with NPCs in a game, each had their own favorability route... Ayra decided to take advantage of the fact that Bloom reacted sharply to the term “insubordination” and was currently drowning in guilt. With calm calculation, Ayra set the food down roughly on the table, the clatter of dishware ringing out harshly. Bloom flinched at the sound. Ayra sat down on the bed.

“Sit, first.”

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Without a word of protest, Bloom dropped to his knees in front of Ayra. Not with one knee like a knight—but both, like a sinner. It was a painful sight to witness, but Ayra kept a neutral expression.

“I won’t hold you accountable for the desertion you committed while I was unconscious.”

At the word “desertion,” Bloom glanced up in shock, only to bow his head again at the coldness in Ayra’s voice, face turning pale.

“......My apologies.”

“Yes, it is something to apologize for. Thanks to your unauthorized departure, I had to march all the way to Sobletz myself. Do you have any idea how much your capture affected the diplomatic balance between our territories? How exactly do you intend to fix that?”

In truth, Bloom’s actions hadn’t caused that much harm. Ayra had planned to provoke Sobletz into war anyway. But Bloom, who had no knowledge of diplomacy, paled further and opened his mouth hesitantly.

“I... I didn’t think that far ahead...”

“I figured as much. If you had known and still did it, I would’ve been very disappointed. I suppose it’s a relief it wasn’t intentional?”

As the reprimands poured in, Bloom’s breathing grew more unsteady. Already in poor condition, sweat beaded visibly on his forehead. Ayra deliberately sighed—a long, heavy breath—and maintained a silence that pressed down like a weight. Only when Bloom’s face had turned paper-white did he finally speak.

“Fine. Why does Sobletz call you a criminal?”

“That is...”

“Don’t tell me you dragged things to this point without giving me any explanation at all.”

Ayra bore down on Bloom, interrogating him in a voice that truly treated him like a convict.

“I need to know what you did in the past if I’m to properly prepare for Sobletz’s soldiers who are now marching on Solar.”

“I-I’m sorry. I... didn’t think it through...”

Now deathly pale, Bloom stammered violently. His mental state, already fragile, seemed to crack audibly. Ayra silently apologized to him in his head. Sir, once this is over, I’ll ask Pebble to arrange some mental health counseling for you...

Bloom tried to explain, but coughed harshly. His voice was too hoarse to go on. Ayra conjured a cup of water with magic and floated it over. For the first time since returning to Solar, Bloom brought something to his lips. Even then, it was only a few tiny sips. After wetting his throat, Bloom hesitated, then began to speak of his past.

“As I’ve told you before, my lord... I’m from Axxion. It’s a village in the southeastern region of Sobletz...”

He had been born in Axxion, a remote village in Sobletz.

While many in Sobletz followed the Morunka faith, not all regions did. The further one went from port cities, the weaker the influence of the lord’s manor and the Morunka temple became. In secluded Axxion, they didn’t revere Morunka. They worshipped dragons.

Dragon worship wasn’t unheard of in this world. Dragons, after all, were real—yet still invoked reverence and fear from ordinary humans. But Axxion didn’t stop at simply deifying dragons.

That isolated community worshipped not only dragons, but also demonic beasts. And it wasn’t just worship. They practiced human sacrifice. Criminals and slaves were regularly offered up in ritual, and major ceremonies sacrificing multiple people were held at least once a year. At times, even monthly offerings were made under the justification of frequent demonic beast attacks, dragon wrath manifesting as earthquakes, or droughts.

Sobletz did dispatch officials and knights to the area, but they were useless. To them, slaves weren’t people—they were barely more than dull livestock.

In that village, Bloom had been born nameless, a child of enslaved outsiders from the west. When his body had grown enough, his talents were recognized and he was allowed to become a soldier—a rare promotion for someone of his status.

Had Axxion been a normal village, Bloom might’ve led a relatively quiet life from there. But his talent had doomed him instead.

At thirteen, he was proud to become a soldier and worked diligently. But each year, he watched his neighbors, cousins, and friends be dragged off as sacrifices. Sometimes, he even had to help with the process. Each event left scars, piling heavy emotions atop his soul.

When he turned eighteen, Bloom, now desensitized, watched as a childhood friend was selected as the next offering—alive. Bound like cattle on the altar, his friend cried out in terror as a blade descended toward his chest.

And that’s when Bloom snapped.

By the time he came to, the ground around him was soaked in blood and littered with corpses. He had slaughtered the estate’s citizens, soldiers, knights—even a high-ranking envoy from Sobletz. The only ones left alive were the slaves.

Drenched in blood, he had staggered up to the altar and cut the ropes binding his friend’s body.

His friend, sobbing, kissed the ground at Bloom’s feet in gratitude—but Bloom felt no joy.

Having butchered the officials, soldiers, and townsfolk, there was no place left for him in Axxion. Staying would only mean death for the slaves. So Bloom fled with them.

Sobletz immediately launched a manhunt. To protect the fleeing slaves, Bloom fought against the pursuers, risking his life. The slaves escaped safely, but Bloom was left behind.

He wandered aimlessly, unsure if he wanted to live or die, if he hated those he’d killed or felt sorry. Day after day, he barely survived. Eventually, at the end of a long pursuit, he collapsed from his wounds.

And the ones who found and saved him—returning from a visit to Sobletz—were the former lord and lady of Solar.

At the time, Bloom had a bounty on his head [N O V E L I G H T] throughout Sobletz. The Solar couple recognized him immediately. But they’d harbored ill feelings toward the Sobletz lord after being mocked as backwater nobility during their stay at the manor.

Wanting to spite their hosts—and seeing how gravely wounded Bloom was—they rushed him into their carriage and brought him back.

Soon after Bloom was given a small room in the manor, winter arrived. The harsh season isolated Solar, and when spring came, Sobletz had lost his trail. They assumed he had died and called off the search.

Bloom, deeply traumatized and seriously injured, spent over a year as a hollow shell. Every night, the people he’d killed—or let die—haunted him in his dreams. Still, his innate physical talent kept him alive.

Eventually, once he could move again, he couldn’t just idle forever. Despite lingering fear, he returned to soldiering.

But being a soldier in Solar was nothing like Axxion.

Knights and soldiers didn’t offer humans as sacrifices to beasts. Instead, they fought to keep the beasts from breaching the walls. The citizens didn’t fear them—they thanked them for their protection. Bit by bit, Bloom began to recover, buoyed by the grace of the Solar couple and the new name they gave him. He found purpose in defending people, not delivering them to death.

With the hunt long called off and Sobletz having forgotten him, Bloom spent more than a decade serving House Solar with gratitude and loyalty—until the past came crashing back today.

After hearing Bloom’s story, Ayra sighed inwardly. So that’s why he had the title Righteous Butcher. Those freed slaves must have seen him that way.

Ayra checked the Stat Window again—and, as expected, the representative title had changed.

<Great Sinner of Axxion>