Lihisak, the village chief of Northernmost, was an old man who had just turned sixty this year. He was the oldest in Northernmost, and despite his age, he was healthy enough to participate in the wall construction.
The old man, who had never once left Northernmost from the moment he was born, was well-versed in the ecology of this place. He had become the village chief of Northernmost in recognition of his merit in experiencing strange things that young people had neither seen nor heard of during his sixty-some years. Though he had never wanted it at all, in Northernmost where spirited young people died off every year, his one piece of exceptional luck was that one day he opened his eyes to find he had become the village chief.
“So.”
Over several decades, as many as a dozen nobles had come and gone from this village. Each time brought a bloodbath, but Lihisak survived. It could truly be called extraordinary luck. This luck stemmed from his nature. He was quick-witted, knew how to wisely abandon his pride, and had no family to worry about losing. That was how he had cunningly avoided the eyes of cruel and merciless commanders.
“What is it you want to tell me right now?”
However, having become village chief through this strange fortune, he now faced a crisis. Lihisak’s wrinkled nape stiffened with tension. The young Duke of Tildyen was far more rational than the previous commanders, but for that very reason, he couldn’t be fooled by tricks. There was no way to avoid his eerily blue eyes.
Inside a crudely erected tent at the site, Lihisak met with Evernight alone.
“Um… Your Grace.”
Lihisak clasped his hands politely in front of him, not knowing what to do. The man didn’t like indecisive attitudes. The reason he had installed this old man as village chief was because he seemed to at least understand words and be good at calculations among the people in this village.
“Th-this morning, the people managing the village livestock shed made all sorts of commotion…”
“Listen, just get to the point. Time is of the essence right now.”
Evernight’s words were somewhat rude and unbecoming of noble dignity, but Lihisak, who had watched him closely for a long time, quickly noticed that his mood was extremely low right now.
“This morning, about ten goats tied up in the village livestock shed were suddenly all slaughtered.”
Goats were a precious resource from which milk and cheese could be obtained. Because this place was extremely cold, it was difficult to raise livestock. The livestock most preferred by the Empire’s farmers were cows or pigs, but such livestock required a lot of feed and had large bodies, making them unsuitable for Northernmost. Instead, the people of Northernmost made livestock sheds in the village and raised goats together. Occasionally they also hunted snow rabbits.
“Did you interrogate those managing them? What’s the possibility they secretly took out the slaughtered meat?”
That’s… Lihisak’s heart grew cold at those sharp eyes that showed a hint of annoyance. Right, just a few goats. At this urgent moment when a snowstorm was approaching, he couldn’t steal the Duke’s time.
“I will firmly discipline them.”
I’m sorry. The village chief placed his hand on his chest and bent at the waist. The meaning livestock held in their lives was far greater than one could imagine, but Evernight was not a ruler with the delicate nerves to worry about such trivial matters.
“Lihisak.”
Lihisak trembled at a gust of wind.
“So are you saying they took them?”
Lihisak quickly answered, thinking ‘oh no’ for a moment.
“Ah… that is… they claim to be innocent.”
“Then how will you discipline them? Don’t they know that if you handle things carelessly here, you’ll die in an instant?”
At the rough vocabulary, Lihisak was seized with fear.
“Then perhaps bandits or outsiders have entered the village…”
Lihisak hastily attached a plausible excuse. How pathetic. Evernight, sitting in the seat of honor in the tent, let out a deep sigh and looked the old man over carefully.
“At this very moment when a snowstorm is blowing, they’d specifically seek out the poorest village to slaughter goats?”
Lihisak instinctively knew that the luck he had maintained his entire life had run out.
“Where are the vagrants?”
“They are… all gathered in nearby houses.”
Lihisak obediently gave his answer. There were many refugees of unknown identity in Northernmost. Because this place was perfect for evading the Empire’s guards. Generally they lived quietly begging, but the problem was that their drug dependency was quite significant. What people who had lost the will to live usually chose as their last refuge were hallucinogenic drugs.
“Were there any among them showing abnormal symptoms?”
“Yes, Your Grace. They all took the medicine Lord Riario gave them and fell sound asleep.”
“Then who does the village chief think did it?”
“…That…”
Back to square one. Generally, when lowly subordinates said things that disparaged their achievements, noble lords would fly into a rage. If he spoke honestly… he was afraid of being beaten severely.
“No matter how much I think about it… b-bandits is all I can…”
“If you’re going to say bandits, forget it.”
Though he had avoided trouble for a long time with that talent for reading the room, right now no clever solution came to mind at all. The Duke of Tildyen’s voice was low, but from what he had seen so far, his temperament would not forgive lies. He was someone about whom rumors were rife that he had mercilessly beheaded allies who abandoned their positions during battle. Lihisak ultimately had no choice but to speak the truth with a self-abandoning heart.
“…M-monsters, perhaps? But surely Lord Riario installed protective magical tools…”
Lihisak examined every hair of Evernight’s eyebrows as he rambled incoherently.
“That won’t happen, right? Of course, of course. I spoke nonsense for no reason.”
“It’s not impossible.”
Fortunately the Duke was calm. Before a sigh of relief could escape, Lihisak was startled and asked urgently.
“M-monsters? You mean they really slaughtered the goats?”
After the wall battle, the monsters lost their strength and disappeared north. Of course, they hadn’t completely eradicated them, but since they had succeeded in killing Durok, who was called their leader, the wall battle could actually be seen as humanity’s first victory. So it was hard to believe at all that monsters would come down to the village and rampage at this time, not long after the battle ended.
“Durok is dead, but the small fry are alive. They may have come down, unable to resist their hunger for cannibalism after all. They’re breathing too, those damn dirty breaths, after all.”
“Then what should we do? Should we inform the village people?”
“We’ll inform them when it’s certain. But go around saying this snowstorm is very powerful, exaggerate it a bit more. It would be better not to go outside for the time being.”
And I should go see that livestock shed right away. Evernight said as he stood up. The village chief hurriedly led the way.
The door of the livestock shed located at the western edge of the village was half torn off and rattled in the wind. Creak, creak, every time the wind blew, the rusted hinges made an unpleasant sound.
“It’s here.”
Evernight entered the livestock shed without hesitation. The village chief lingered outside and hesitated once, but thinking ‘whatever,’ soon followed Evernight. On thick straw, goat corpses with all their entrails torn open were lined up. The one fortunate thing was that thanks to the cold weather, there was no terrible rotting smell or swarms of flies.
Evernight bent his legs and crouched down to examine the corpses. Judging by the slaughtered form, they hadn’t been cut with weapons like knives or axes but rather looked as if they had been torn by hand. As Evernight lifted the entrails with his hand, the village chief stuck to the wall, urgently suppressing the rising nausea.
“They left the entrails as they were, ate the hearts, and tore off the flesh to eat.”
“…Y-yes. It looks that way. The butchers said the same.”
“Humans don’t do this kind of thing.”
Somehow his voice echoed bleakly. The village chief trembled slightly at the goosebumps creeping up his spine.
* * *
“Your Imperial Highness. After you grasp the magical power flowing through this land…”
After arriving at the clearing, Riario immediately began teaching. He placed his hand on the cold snowy ground. A somewhat murky gray light gathered beneath his palm. Riario quickly transferred that cluster of light to the orb he was holding in his other hand. Then soon the inside of the orb filled with gray light as if clouds were gathering.
“You just need to transfer it to the orb like this. Ordinary objects can’t draw in nature’s magical power, but this orb draws in even unrefined natural magical power well, you see. Can you do it?”
Anya nodded enthusiastically. Crouching next to Riario and concentrating as he brought his hand over the cold snow, he could indeed feel a stream wriggling and flowing beneath the ground. Anya concentrated on the small runic characters drawn on his palm. A cold and chilly stream gathered above his hand. It was just like the lake of Tildyen.
“That’s enough.”
Anya looked over the cluster of light gathered on his palm. At that time my magical power was blue, how fascinating. To know precisely what attribute each color was, I must definitely stop by the library when I return to Tildyen and look it up. With a joyful heart, Anya transferred Northernmost’s magical power into one orb.
“E-excuse me… Mage-nim.”
Just then. From the entrance to the clearing, a familiar figure was staggering toward them.
