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Chapter 166 Goodbye, You Cheap Bastard
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The trio sat in silence around the bonfire in the upper Undead Burg. Its orange light flickered across stone and steel, casting long shadows that danced in the corners of the ruined room. Naruto sat cross-legged, arms resting on his knees, eyes half-lidded as he waited for the world to reset. He had unfinished business with the merchant.
Oscar slept curled in his lap, soft puffs of steam rising from his snout.
Griggs sat nearby, staff across his knees, eyes on the flames. His voice came low, respectful, as not to disturb the lizard. "If it's not too much to ask... where did you learn that magic?"
Naruto didn't answer right away. He figured it would come up sooner or later. Chakra and its strange fusion with this world's sorcery wasn't something a Vinheim scholar would overlook. It was natural Griggs would be curious. Maybe even hungry for it. But…
"I can't tell you," Naruto said, his voice quiet but firm.
Griggs raised an eyebrow. "Because you don't trust me?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. I trust you. You've backed me up in the fight, kept me from cracking my spine in a fall... but this isn't about that."
Griggs gave a small, knowing smile. "Because your spells are more than just spells. They're part of you. And you're not ready to share that part yet."
Naruto gave a faint nod. "Yeah. Exactly."
"It's alright," Griggs said. "Everyone's got something they keep close. I appreciate the honesty, Naruto. And I hope... one day, when you're ready, I'll get to learn more. From a scholar's perspective, of course."
Naruto didn't reply. Instead, he pulled something from his inventory. A small, jagged key etched with grime and age.
[Item: Key to the Depths]
[Description: Key opening the door from the lower Undead Burg to the Depths. Those banished from the Undead Burg eke out their existence in the Depths, a damp lair with no trace of sunlight. Nearly half of the Depths form a perilous flooded labyrinth.]
He stared at the text for a moment, then let the key vanish back into the void of his pouch. Whoever gave Capra this key, they really didn't want anyone getting down there, Naruto thought. Then, without looking up, he said, "Griggs... you should head back to Firelink Shrine."
But Griggs didn't move. "I want to speak with the merchant," he said quietly.
Naruto turned, one eyebrow raised but he didn't press. Just nodded.
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Later
The world reset, and the last remnants of the Capra fight were gone like fog lifted by the morning sun. The trio moved through the emptied streets, cutting down lingering hollows, until they reached the familiar balcony where the Undead Merchant made his home.
Naruto took a deep breath and stepped through the door.
"Hey, you ugly bastard," he called, forcing a grin. "I've got juicy souls and a whole lotta grief to spend."
But there was no response. No rasping voice. No laughter. No snide Nee hee hee! Only a grunt. A shuffle of feet. And then a snarl. From the dark, something lunged. Naruto caught it by the neck, heart leaping into his throat.
"What?! No! Hey! It's me!"
The figure twisted in his grip, face pale and cracked, mouth twisted into something more animal than human.
"Come on," Naruto gasped. "Talk to me!"
The hollow only growled louder, snapping at him. Foam leaked from its lips. Eyes were empty.
Naruto, voice trembling, reached into his inventory. "I brought your sword back," he whispered, pulling out the Uchigatana. "You said her name was Yulia… remember?"
He held it out like a peace offering.
"Yulia... Say something. Please."
But the hollow didn't even glance at the blade. It thrashed and snarled and didn't stop.
Behind him, Griggs stepped into the doorway, Oscar in his arms.
"...Naruto," Griggs said gently. "It's no use."
Naruto turned, frantic. "What do you mean? He's right here! He just needs a little more..."
Griggs walked slowly forward. "He's Hollow. Completely gone."
"What does that even mean?! He's Undead like us. He should come back!"
Griggs stopped, his expression grim. "We don't truly die here. Not at first. But every time we fall, every time the bonfire pulls us back together... we lose something. A piece of who we were."
Naruto stared at the hollow writhing beneath his grip.
"An Undead doesn't truly die here, Naruto. And due to the curse, each time we fall, each time the bonfire resurrects us… we lose something."
Naruto shook his head, backing away as the merchant-turned-hollow snarled again.
"First it's a detail. A name. A place. Then faces. Memories. Voices."
The hollow screeched and lunged again. Naruto knocked it back, panting.
"And when there's nothing left…" Griggs' voice cracked, just a bit. "There's no you anymore. Just… the curse. You're just Hollow."
"No," Naruto whispered.
"He lost himself. Lost Yulia. Lost you. All he knows now… is the instinct to kill."
Naruto's knees hit the floor. The sword slipped from his fingers and clattered to the stone.
"No," he said again, softer. He looked at the creature before him... his friend, now hunched and snarling, gnawing aimlessly at his forearm.
Naruto sat there, unmoving, eyes blurred with tears. Thick, hot grief swelled in his chest like a storm surge. This was worse than death. Worse than pain.
This was the loss of self.
Why me? he thought. Why can I still hold on, and you... why did you fall?
His voice cracked. He looked down again.
"If only I hadn't given you that humanity… if only I hadn't tried to help…"
Behind him, Griggs stood silent. Only Oscar's gentle, sorrowful chirp broke the stillness.
"There… might be a way," Griggs said quietly. "A chance for you to speak with him. Just once."
"How?"
"You'll have to... kill him. And take in his soul."
Naruto's brow furrowed. "You mean absorb it?"
"Not like you do with other souls. This is different," Griggs explained. "If done properly, a soul can be… echoed. The memory within it becomes accessible, briefly. But it's dangerous. Very few sorcerers even know how. Most never try."
Naruto said nothing.
"The soul has to be fresh. And we'll need multiple casters, your clones will do, if they can mimic my directions exactly. Otherwise the soul will just be swallowed into your Darksign… lost."
He turned to look at the hollow in front of him. It wasn't snarling anymore. It was just… hunched. Twitching. A broken shape, incapable of thought or rage.
Naruto took the Uchigatana from the ground, hand steady even as his chest grew tight. "I don't want to do this," he murmured.
Griggs said nothing.
"I hope this works," Naruto said softly, and then drove the blade into the merchant's chest.
There was no scream. No struggle. Only a long, slow breath. A sound like release. Then stillness. A faint glow rose from the merchant's corpse. A small, flickering soul, pale and fragile like a dying candle flame.
Naruto reached for it. His fingers closed gently around it.
Griggs began at once, directing the clones. Chalk, ash from the undead's corpse, and shavings from the sorcerer's catalysts were shaped into a ring of unfamiliar sigils that looked oddly like fuinjutsu.
"This will only work if the merchant's soul still remembers the core of who he was," Griggs warned. "If there's even a thread left to pull from. But if things turn unstable, I'll end it. I won't let your soul be eaten in the process."
Naruto gave a silent nod.
Griggs raised his staff, and the ritual ignited in a brilliant white light washing over the balcony as Naruto's mind was pulled inward. He blinked, recognizing the world of souls. The gray lattice stretched beneath his feet like a net cast over reality.
And there he was.
The merchant.
Still hunched, still thin, still wrapped in rags but unmistakably Hollow. The madness twisted his body, but the merchant remained seated, arms draped lazily over his knees, chin tilted. A flicker of his old posture. A hint of the man he used to be.
"Well, well... look who finally rolled in," he rasped, voice rough and ghostly. "I figured you'd live a longer life for certain. Bah, shows what I know... Nee hee hee... heh…" Sёarᴄh the NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
Naruto stepped forward slowly, words catching in his throat. "I wanted to talk. One last time."
"One last time?" The merchant tilted his head, lips peeling back in a crooked smile. "Now that sounds dreadfully final, doesn't it? Should I be charging a soul or two for sentimental drivel?" He gave a low chuckle that died before it could echo. "Nee... heh."
Naruto swallowed. "I wanted to say… I'm sorry."
The grin faltered.
"Sorry?" The merchant's voice turned quieter, almost curious. "Now why would you go and do a foolish thing like that?"
"You went Hollow," Naruto said, eyes downcast. "Because of me. I gave you that humanity. That made you a target. That's why Capra found you. You died because I…"
"Stop right there," the merchant snapped, raising a hand. His voice was firm, for once not mocking. "Don't go pointing that bent little blade at yourself."
"But..."
"You gave me kindness," he said. "You gave me hope. And in Lordran, that's rarer than dragons these days." His hollowed face tilted toward the void. "I'd already started losing my marbles, kid. All you did was slow the bleeding."
Naruto looked away. His fists trembled at his sides.
"If anything," the merchant continued, "I should be the one thanking you. You gave me time. A few more days to laugh with Yulia. A few more chances to feel like myself." He chuckled, but it sounded like it hurt. "Can't ask for more than that. Not in a place like this."
"You were always there. Always talking like nothing mattered. But it did. You mattered."
"Hah. Never thought I'd hear that. Not from anyone. Not even Yulia. She just bites, you know." His head tilted, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Naruto… what happened to me wasn't your fault. I made my choices."
"What are you talking about?"
The merchant leaned forward, flickering faintly against the dull glow of the soul-world's strange light.
"Well, now... you really are keeping your marbles together, hmm?" he rasped with a grin. "But let's not pretend I was ever a knight in shining armor. I was never a fighter, not really. Never a hero. Just a skinny old twig who knew how to survive."
His grin twisted at the edges, sharp with memory.
"Half the junk I sold was pinched off corpses still warm. The rest? Scavenged from folks worse off than me. Desperate things, desperate souls. And I made a tidy little profit. Nee hee hee…"
Naruto's face stayed still, but his eyes burned.
"I thought I was clever. Thought I could keep my hands clean if I just stayed smart. But... hah… turns out even scavengers get greedy. One day I thought I'd take a soul or two off some poor sorcerer. Just a little invasion, nothing fancy. But wouldn't you know it... two of 'em showed up instead of one. Bit of bad luck, that."
His voice lowered.
"So I panicked. Locked 'em in a room. Figured I'd wait till they starved. Crack the door open when the stench cleared, pick the bones clean."
Naruto's fists clenched. "That was Griggs and his classmate."
The merchant gave a thin, tired shrug. "Didn't know their names. Didn't matter to me back then. And I suppose Griggs never forgot."
"What about Capra?"
"Ah... that big bastard. He wasn't part of the plan. But I was summoning too often, greed blinding me. Must've poked something deep. One night, he comes crawling out of the walls like a nightmare with blades. And then flames. Screaming. My own, mostly."
His head lowered. "Yulia didn't make a peep."
Naruto looked away, jaw tight. "I fought for you. Tore through everything. Thought I was avenging someone good."
"I was never good," the merchant said, calm now. "But I was still someone. And you gave me something no one had in a long time."
"What?"
He looked up with a faint smile, no grin, no mockery. "You gave a damn. That's more than most."
There was a pause.
"So… that's it?" Naruto said. "Is this how it ends?"
"Aye," the merchant nodded. "No big farewell. Don't drag me back up from the dirt. Don't mourn me. I was a rat, kid. But even rats dream. Even rats laugh."
Naruto's voice trembled. "You mattered to me."
The merchant blinked, genuinely caught off-guard. "I did?"
"You gave me a weapon. One you made. The reinforced club. That thing saved my life more times than I can count."
A pause.
"The club?" He let out a thin laugh. "Didn't think anyone'd ever buy that ugly thing. Barbed it myself after a botched enchantment. Never could sell it for a decent soul. Guess it had more bite than I thought."
"I used it to kill the Capra Demon."
The merchant gave a soft wheeze that might have been a laugh or a sob. "Well, I'll be. Guess I left a mark after all."
He leaned back, arms dangling like a puppet gone slack.
The Undead Merchant gave a long, tired sigh. "You know, lying doesn't suit you. You're not much of a salesman, hmm? Nee hee hee…"
Naruto scratched the back of his head, sheepish. "I did kill Capra with the club you made. But… I didn't use it that often. Just when it counted."
The merchant tilted his head, that crooked grin half-intact. "Ahh, well, there's the truth, hiding under your tongue like a good soul in a bad purse. You don't have to lie to me, boy. I'm already halfway to dust. I won't remember this conversation come the next hollowing... but I'd rather forget it knowing it was real."
Naruto lowered his eyes. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a hypocrite. I expect honesty from others… and lie when it's easier for me."
The merchant snorted.
"So a lie's what brought you to the edge, is it?" He gave Naruto a long, sidelong look. "You've got that look. Seen it before. Someone staring down a road that used to mean something, only to find it's swallowed up in fog."
Naruto exhaled hard through his nose. Something in him wavered and broke. He started to speak. About Kakashi. The secrets. The betrayal. How nothing made sense anymore, how he didn't even know why he kept fighting. He emptied it all.
The merchant listened. No snide remarks. No cackling jokes. When Naruto finally went quiet, the silence stretched between them like a heavy cloak.
"So," the merchant said at last, soft as dead leaves, "you're just going to walk away from your own story, eh?"
Naruto looked up sharply.
"You've trained. Bled. Met individuals worth remembering. And now, just because one man didn't say the words you wanted, when you wanted…" He shook his head slowly. "You're ready to drop your sword and vanish into the fog?"
"I don't know," Naruto admitted. "I'm not angry anymore. Not even confused. Just... lost. If Kakashi had just asked me, I would've brought him here. I would've helped. I just… I don't get why he went around me. Doesn't he already know everything?"
"You can rage. You can spit. You can curse every rotten plank in this world's foundation. But at some point…" He breathed out slowly. "You've got to let go."
Naruto frowned. "So what, I'm just supposed to forgive him?"
The merchant's lip curled.
"If you weren't looking for a reason to, you wouldn't have brought him up."
Naruto blinked.
The merchant went on, tone turning from bitter to resigned. "Look, you can stay here. You can stew in it for a century or three. But the people you want answers from? They'll be bones and echoes long before you figure it out. And you?" He tilted his head. "You'll still be here. Wondering. Wandering. Hollowing."
Naruto looked away, jaw clenched. "So what do I do?"
The merchant leaned back and let out a slow, dry chuckle. "You finish the story, nitwit. Go back. Walk the path you started. And if it takes you through fire, so be it. You've already bled for your story. Might as well see how it ends."
"You say that like you've been there."
"I don't know anymore, boy." His smile faltered. "Maybe I had a life like yours. Maybe I was betrayed. Maybe I laughed under sunlight with people whose faces I can't recall."
He sighed, low and ragged. "But now? Now there's nothing but scraps. Echoes. Half-shadows. And Yulia…" His voice caught in his throat. "I don't even know what she was. A person? A blade? A voice that kept me sane? I say her name, but I don't know if I'm mourning or pretending."
He let out a chuckle. "Maybe that's the cruelest curse of all. Not remembering whether it mattered."
Naruto didn't speak at first. There was nothing to say that wouldn't break something fragile in the air. Finally, softly: "Thank you. I think… I know what I need to do now."
The merchant blinked, as if waking from a long nap. Then his grin returned, not quite steady. "Good, good. Then let's talk about payment, hmm?"
Naruto frowned. "Wait... what?"
In his palm, something shimmered into being. A pendant. Old. Dented. Bent out of shape by time and grief. Its surface was worn nearly smooth, like it had been clenched through every storm and sobbed over in silence. The chain was frayed. The metal dull and heavy. A faint etching barely clung to its face so faded, even memory struggled to see it.
He held it out. "This. Figure out what it is." The grin dropped. His eyes were steady now. "That's my payment."
Naruto reached out, fingers closing around it.
The merchant watched him with something like peace. "Good luck, kid. Don't forget what you felt here."
Then he pressed a hand to his Darksign and this time, there was no laughter. Just a flicker of white sparks, and he was gone.
Just like that.
A soul, broken down to fuel another.
Naruto stood there for a long moment. Silent. Eyes on the empty space where a man had once clung to the idea of someone named Yulia. "Goodbye," Naruto whispered, voice shaking with something he didn't want to name. "You cheap, lonely bastard."
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Naruto gasped softly as the world shimmered back into color and focus.
He turned, lips parting to thank Griggs, only to freeze. The sorcerer lay slumped beside the ritual circle, pale and barely breathing, his hands limp in his lap. Oscar rested on his chest, still as stone save for the rhythmic flick of his tail, as if guarding a comrade fallen in battle.
Naruto knelt beside them. For a moment, he simply listened; to Griggs's breath, to Oscar's soft weight shifting, to his own heartbeat slowly calming. "Guess I took longer than I thought," he muttered.
Oscar chirped, tail twitching once more.
Naruto smiled. "Yeah… I'm back. And I know what I need to do."
Oscar tilted his head.
"I'm going back to the Wave Country. I'm going to look Kakashi in the eye... and ask him why." A beat passed. Naruto's fists clenched lightly. "No more silence. No more guessing. I need the truth." He looked at Oscar. "Whatever happens next... we face it together. Sound good?"
Oscar chirped again, more certain this time, and gently tapped Naruto's arm with his snout.
[Item: Pendant]
[Description: A simple pendant with no effect. Even so, pleasant memories are crucial to survival on arduous journeys.]
With his Hawkeyes active, Naruto squinted... watching as faint script surfaced on the back of the metal, like echoes rising from forgotten ink. The words were carved with hesitation, correction, and pressure. A chain of hands had passed this down, each adding something.
He read it aloud:
"I once thought I had all the time in the world. Turns out, I just had one chance and a lot of excuses."
"I kissed someone I loved during a funeral. Don't be me."
"Regret is a quiet poison. It doesn't kill you fast, but it never stops."
"Note to self: never trust a guy named Mordrick the Friendly. He wasn't."
"I kept trying to find the right path, but maybe there isn't one. Maybe you just walk, and make it right as you go."
"If anyone finds my left boot… tell it I miss it."
"I once killed a man over soup. Then I cried. Because it was cold."
"I used to think being strong meant never needing help. Turns out, the strongest thing I did was ask."
"Yulia's not real. Or maybe she was. Or maybe she's just the part of me I couldn't save."
Naruto gave a soft chuckle at a few of the entries, a low warmth in his chest as he smiled and gently looped the chain around Oscar's neck like a medal. "You want me to write something too?"
Oscar gave a decisive nod.
Naruto tapped the pendant thoughtfully, then carefully etched his own words in the free space with the edge of a kunai: "I hope you live a life you're proud of. And if you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over… Dattebayo."
He leaned back and looked at Oscar. "What do you think?"
Oscar tilted his head... then shook it. "What? Too sentimental?"
Oscar nodded without hesitation so fast it was almost rude. Then he scratched at the dirt with one tiny claw, tail swishing like punctuation.
Naruto frowned. "Okay, okay. How about… 'Ramen is the food of the Gods'?"
Oscar gave a slow shrug. Acceptable, maybe. Barely.
Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Right. So words aren't enough for you."
Oscar chirped, then sat up a little straighter. Regal. Expectant. "…You just want me to draw a cute picture of you, don't you."
Oscar gave the most shameless, unrepentant nod Naruto had ever seen.
Naruto laughed, "Fine, fine. But if anyone finds this a thousand years from now and thinks you were some kind of ancient lizard god… that's on you."
Oscar chirped with pride.
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Author's Note:
Damn you, ninjas of the Hidden Village of the Onion… these tears weren't supposed to fall. But enough about that—time for a little Q&A.
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1. The Undead Merchant:
Let's be honest, this guy's a generic NPC in the game. Close to hollowing, talks to an imaginary sword (Yulia), and mostly rambles nonsense. In Dark Souls, he's there to be ignored, killed, or bought from. That's it.
But in a story? He has to mean something.
So, I made him serve the plot. He shows the emotional cost of hollowing, gives Naruto a meaningful item (the Uchigatana), sets the stage for the Capra Demon fight, and helps drive Naruto's character development. His role ended up being more powerful than I expected—especially his lines about remembering memories of memories. That line in particular was meant to capture the quiet tragedy of losing yourself to time, regret, and madness.
He's still a piece of shit, don't get me wrong. He looted the dead, invaded sorcerers, and hoarded junk. But he's also a product of Lordran's slow grind toward despair, and in the end, his greed is what did him in.
Honestly? He was a blast to write. I'd love to hear your thoughts: did he add something meaningful to the story? Did he change how you looked at this forgotten vendor?
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2. The Pendant:
Okay, so lore rant incoming.
The Pendant is my favorite starting item in Dark Souls.
It literally does nothing. Absolutely nothing. And yet for years, players were convinced it had some secret use. Classic Miyazaki trolling. I love the fan theory that the Chosen Undead chose it simply to remind themselves to never give up—to search for meaning where there is none, and never go hollow.
Of course, Naruto's different. He didn't start with the Pendant. He got the Old Witch's Ring. But I wanted the Pendant to come into the story anyway—so I made it a little artifact of human nonsense. The inscriptions on the back? They were meant to feel real. Some are funny, some tragic, some stupidly honest. Just like people.
I mean, let's be real… the guy who wrote "I killed a man over soup, then cried because it was cold"—that guy had stories.
And then there's Oscar. You know the next person who finds this pendant is going to think the lizard on it is some forgotten god of mischief and war.
I hope you had fun with that scene, and with Naruto's growth especially him finally choosing to hear Kakashi out.
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Thank you all for the amazing support. Writing this story has been one hell of a journey, and you make every chapter worth it. From tears to shitposts, I'm just glad we're all here together in this weird, beautiful world.
As always—thanks for reading.
— Adam
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[ Personal Note: First off, thanks a ton to all of you for sticking with this story. Seriously, you guys are awesome. Now, if you're interested in supporting me on P@treon, let me just say that over there, I post these massive 5k-word chapters. But heads up, if you're jumping to P@treon, you'll need to start from Chapter 81, since that's where this chapter lines up with the content there.
To everyone here just reading along, please don't forget to leave a comment! Honestly, your comments make my day, and they let me know you're as invested in this story as I am. So yeah, thanks again, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day!
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!