Prologue

“The verdict will now be read.
The defendant, Kiska, is hereby sentenced to exile into the depths of the dungeon for the crime of assaulting and murdering the villager Namia.”

The moment I heard those words, the blood rushed to my head.

“I’m innocent!”

Before I knew it, I was shouting at the judge.

“I was framed by the villagers! I didn’t do anything!”

“Defendant, restrain your speech.”

The judge’s merciless voice showed not a shred of intent to hear me out.

“Hey, hurry up and get over here.”

The guards roughly dragged me away as I struggled.

Even so, I kept insisting on my innocence, but not a single person would listen.

“Get in there and behave yourself.”

And with that, I was thrown into a cell.

Tomorrow, I’ll be sent into the depths of the S-Rank dungeon, Katarov Dungeon, located in this village.

No one who’s ever been sent to the depths of that dungeon has ever come back alive.

So I’m sure I’ll end up as nothing more than a corpse, torn apart by the monsters lurking there.

“Damn it! This is bullshit!”

I yelled, pounding on the wall.

The sound echoed hollowly, carrying no meaning at all.

◆

Katarov Village.

That’s the village where I was born and raised.

The pride of this place is the S-Rank dungeon known as Katarov Dungeon.

Because of that, the village thrived with adventurers who came seeking to conquer it.

In that village, I’d been persecuted since I was a child.

The reason was my dull silver hair.

In this country, for some time now, people with silver hair have been called Arcus and persecuted.

There’s an old legend that the Arcus once betrayed humanity and sided with the demons.

My mother was born here in Katarov Village and had brown hair.

And yet my hair was silver. That must have had something to do with my father.

My father was already gone by the time I was born.

Whether he died or ran away, I don’t know. My mother never spoke a word about him.

Because of that, I was persecuted as an Arcus, and my mother as someone who had lain with one.

Children threw stones at me, our fields were destroyed by someone’s hand.

Thanks to that, we were always poor, barely able to eat a proper meal.

Even so, my mother raised me with everything she had.

“I’m sorry, Kiska. I’m sorry I couldn’t raise you properly.”

That was her constant apology.

That mother of mine passed away last year. The cause was illness. We were too poor to afford the medicine to cure her.

“Hey, silver-hair. Heard your tribute’s short again this year.”

“I’m sorry.”

The one picking a fight with me was Darga, the village chief’s son.

Behind Darga stood a group of his usual cronies.

They always acted together in a pack and came to mess with me.

“Hey, ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it, you know.”

The reason my tribute was short was because they had ruined my field.

But I knew pointing that out would be useless.

“I’m sorry.”

So I just kept apologizing.

“Hey, let’s beat the crap out of him.”

“Oh, yeah, let’s do it.”

And then they began their usual lynching.

“Die, you bastard!”

They shouted as they punched me in the face over and over.

Resisting would only make things worse. The more I fought back, the more excited they’d get, the harder they’d hit.

Staying still meant fewer injuries.

I’d learned that after years of this, so I just kept taking the blows.

“Let’s call it a day.”

When Darga finally said that, my face was swollen red and throbbing.

◆

“Again… Darga and his gang did this to you, didn’t they?”

The one saying that was my childhood friend, Namia.

Namia was the daughter of a nearby merchant — the only person in this village who ever took my side.

“Here, sit still. I’ll patch you up.”

She said that as she gently spread ointment over my wounds.

“Why does everyone pick on you, Kiska…?”

“It can’t be helped. It’s my fault for being silver-haired.”

“Mmm, but I think your hair colour’s beautiful.”

To me, this silver hair was a cursed thing. Yet Namia was the only one who always said that.

“Hey, Kiska. There’s something important I need to tell you.”

She said that in a deliberately serious tone.

“Huh? What is it?”

“I’m going to marry Darga.”

The moment she said it, my vision spun from the shock.

In this village, marriages were almost always arranged by parents.

The chief and Namia’s parents had close ties, so it wasn’t hard to imagine she’d be paired with Darga.

“…I see. Congratulations.”

I forced the words of congratulations out, but my face was probably twisted all over.

“Hey, Kiska… are you really okay with that?”

“Eh…?”

“Do you plan to just keep living in this village forever?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

As long as I had land here, I couldn’t just leave.

“I hate it. Everyone in this village bullies you. If you stay here, one day you’ll break.”

“But what else can I do?”

“Run away with me!”

Namia looked straight into my eyes as she said it.

“I’ve saved up some money. We can use it to leave the village. Let’s find a place where no one knows us and live together.”

I’d thought about leaving the village before.

But travelling took money — money I didn’t have.

Yet if Namia was willing to help, maybe… just maybe it was possible.

“Are you sure about this, Namia…?”

It made sense for me to leave this village. But there was no reason for Namia to throw her life away for me.

“I’m sure. I don’t want to marry that man.”

“I see…”

I confirmed the firmness in her voice.

“I love you, Namia.”

“Yeah… I love you too.”

We both said it, affirming it aloud.

I’d loved Namia for as long as I could remember.
But I’d always hidden it, knowing we could never be together in this village.

“When do we make our move?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Got it. Let’s run away tonight.”

“Mm.”

And then, Namia and I kissed.

Our first kiss was clumsy and awkward.

After that, I talked with Namia about our plan, then we parted ways.

I was supposed to come for her at midnight.

So I went home, got everything ready, and waited for the night to fall.

◆

When night came, I headed toward Namia’s house, guided by the pale light of the moon.

We had agreed to meet outside her home.

“Stop it!”

A scream rang out.

It was Namia’s voice.

“Are you okay!?”

Shouting, I burst into Namia’s house without even taking off my shoes.

I threw open the door where her voice had come from.

“Hey, silver-hair. What the hell are you doing here?”

What I saw before me was the most repulsive sight imaginable.

Inside the room were Darga and his gang of men—every one of them half-naked.

And they were about to rip Namia’s clothes off by force.

“What… are you doing?”

“What do you mean? Take a look and figure it out.”

Darga said that with a twisted grin.

I didn’t even need to ask. I knew exactly what was happening.

But… it was forbidden in this village for an unmarried man and woman to share a bed.
And more than that—why were there other men besides Darga?
Just thinking about the reason made me sick to my stomach.

“Wait a sec. Why the hell are you here, silver-hair? Don’t tell me someone ratted us out to this guy?”

Darga looked around and asked his men.

But everyone shook their heads.

While they did, I was thinking about what to do.

I had to get Namia out of there—no matter what.

“Get away from her.”

“Huh?”

“I said, get away from Namia! Right now!”

I screamed it.

Then I threw myself at Darga and the others.

But I was one man against several.
I didn’t stand a chance. They beat me senseless in no time.

Yet even after that, Darga wasn’t satisfied just beating me bloody.

He must’ve found it suspicious that I’d shown up at all.

So he decided to “question” me—by torture.

He started tearing out my fingernails, one by one.

Even then, I couldn’t bring myself to say we were trying to run away together.
So I just kept screaming and enduring it.

“Stop! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything—just stop hurting him!!”

The one who broke first was Namia.

“Namia… don’t…”

My voice didn’t reach her. She confessed everything.

As a result, Darga flew into a rage.

The fact that Namia and I had tried to elope—that was what he couldn’t forgive.

Then Darga turned on Namia and began to assault her.

I tried to stop him somehow, but against so many men I was powerless.
Before I knew it, I’d been knocked out cold.

When I came to, I was in a cell.

The charge was that I had raped and murdered Namia.

By morning, she’d been found dead.

Darga must have strangled her to death.

And then, he pinned every last bit of it on me.