‘What… is going on?’
Because everything happened in an instant, Jake had difficulty grasping the situation right away even after the Sandworm fled. Still, he could tell that death had just brushed past him.
Even though he saw nothing with his eyes, his hands trembled from the bloodlust the monster emitted.
Jake forced his trembling hands to move and pushed away Klad, who was blocking his view. Klad, who hadn’t particularly intended to hold Jake for long anyway, obediently stepped back.
“Klad. You came back after all.”
Klad ignored Jake’s words and approached the traces left behind where the Sandworm had disappeared moments ago. Marks remained in a shape as if the ground had been dug up and the gap grabbed and torn wide open to both sides.
‘They’re the same marks I saw in the village.’
The same traces had been found several times while crossing to the opposite side of the village after first arriving here.
There was only one Sandworm felt below the ground. This meant one Sandworm frequently crawled up from the ground to torment the village residents.
But how could village residents with no ability to deal with monster attacks have survived until now?
‘Is there a safe zone?’
Now he properly understood what was going on.
Duke West established the village and planted a modified Sandworm here. Not to attack the village residents, but as a countermeasure against demons raiding the village.
When demons came and knocked down walls and destroyed houses, the village residents just had to hide in the safe zone and wait for the demons to enter the Sandworm’s activity range.
Many residents would have been sacrificed in the process, but it would have been better than directly facing the Sandworm or demons.
It might have been difficult if multiple demons swarmed at once, but since they would have released only one demon at a time, it would have been easy for the Sandworm to handle. It just had to burst up from the floor in one go and swallow the demon—done. Since Sandworms by species characteristics didn’t operate using mana but moved by digging through the ground with pure strength and chewed prey with sharp teeth, it wasn’t strange that no traces of battle remained.
The demonic energy scattered as demons died seeped into the ground, and the Sandworm dwelling within would have grown stronger over time, wandering around the village scattering demonic energy.
To the point where the village was rotting from its roots, stained with demonic energy.
‘There’s no way the village humans don’t know the Sandworm’s activity range.’
Klad swept his gaze over the village interior where not a single light flowed out. The village residents were hiding tightly inside houses with their bodies curled up, killing their presence.
As if they had anticipated what was happening outside.
‘So they knew the West brat was wandering outside the safe zone but didn’t say a word.’
Did it mean they didn’t care if some outsider they didn’t even know got swallowed by a monster? Was that choice due to human nature valuing one’s own safety over another’s life? Or was it defiance toward Jake, who had coldly turned away the village people first?
His thoughts became complicated.
‘…Useless worrying.’
Klad shook off the idle thoughts and turned his gaze toward Jake.
“Why on earth were you rubbing the ground?”
“How did you know I had my hand on the ground? You were watching me, Klad.”
“…….”
When he said it like that, it sounded like even after leaving, he’d been watching the guy from afar the whole time. Though since it wasn’t entirely wrong, he couldn’t say it wasn’t.
Klad, made awkward by this situation, played dumb and looked at the distant empty air.
After several deep breaths, Jake barely calmed his trembling voice and continued his explanation.
“You wouldn’t know since you’re not the Hero. The Hero’s energy directly bestowed by God is a power that precisely opposes demonic energy. Regular demons, not the Demon King, instinctively avoid that energy.”
“Are you saying you intended to let the energy flow out by rubbing the bare ground with your hand?”
“Yes. This power isn’t mine but the Lord’s. My weakness doesn’t affect this power, so it should be effective.”
Just as he said, traces imitating divine power remained faintly where Jake had been crouching until moments ago.
“…….”
He suddenly felt a little sorry for abandoning Jake.
“Klad.”
“What.”
“It’s not because there are many nobles in the capital.”
“What?”
“What I said about the capital being attacked if this village didn’t exist. I didn’t think it was natural for these people to be sacrificed because there are many nobles in the capital. I merely wanted to specify that there are more imperial citizens there.”
He thought Jake had not even a breadcrumb’s worth of tact, but Jake noticed which part made the other feel repulsed and flee, and tried to explain those words.
“It doesn’t mean I think the act of creating such a village to reduce the number of imperial citizens suffering damage is justified. I just wanted to say I understand… no, came to know why Father made that choice.”
“…Right.”
“And I don’t know about stopping it before the village was built, but destroying an already created village isn’t a very good choice. The people living here would have nowhere to go.”
Just because this village’s origins were inhumane, would destroying the village be justified?
No matter how much of a Duke he was, he wouldn’t have kidnapped perfectly fine people to bring them here to create a village. Not because he was a person with that much consideration, but because he had to make an escape route in case the village’s existence was revealed to the world.
There’s a high probability these residents are fugitives without status. Though the slave system is prohibited in the Empire, they could be slaves who escaped from other regions.
If the village disappears, these people have nowhere to go.
They can’t dig a cave in a castle and hide like Klad did, can they?
Just because this village was created as bait to draw demons’ attention, getting angry about it and smashing the village to pieces is by no means for the sake of those living here.
“God would not forgive Father for creating such a village. But it’s also clear that demons being able to run rampant within the Empire is the fault of me, Jake West, the Hero who failed to fulfill his duty.”
It was a somewhat gloomy voice, contrary to the confident tone.
“These people suffering is all my fault. Since people are suffering because I was given work I couldn’t take responsibility for, it’s also something I must resolve somehow.”
So that’s why he was wandering around the dark village without a single light, rubbing the ground.
Klad roughly understood how Jake’s thinking worked.
“So… you obediently stayed confined in the underground prison because you considered yourself a criminal?”
“No way. It’s true that I lack capability, but isn’t calling me a criminal too much? I was confined in the underground prison not because I agreed with Father’s will, but simply because I lacked the ability to escape.”
It was an answer that deflated someone who had carefully asked in the gentlest possible tone. Klad was dumbfounded and let out an empty laugh.
No, perhaps it was just a laugh.
Noticing the atmosphere had softened, Jake quickly added with a much brighter face.
“If we leave traces of the Hero in this village, even if it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem, we should be able to stop the demons’ immediate invasion. If they learn the Hero has started full-scale activities, won’t their movements afterward become more cautious?”
“Instead, it won’t be demons but the Demon King who comes out then.”
“That’s fine. According to what’s known, the Demon King and the current Hero’s military power are adjusted to be roughly similar. If it’s a Demon King with the same limitations as me, the imperial citizens can feel relieved.”
To think he could accept his own weakness so positively. His mental fortitude alone was admirable.
“Whether demons or the Demon King, making them chase the Hero instead of villages like this. In the end, you’re saying you’ll become bait instead.”
“It’s a little different. Facing the Demon King was my duty to begin with.”
“It’s not different.”
“Since I argued it’s rational to choose the capital over this village to save more imperial citizens, wouldn’t it be consistent to think it’s rational to save this village’s multiple imperial citizens over one person, me?”
“What rational…”
“It’s not like I don’t think about myself. Look at this.”
Jake waved his right hand in front of Klad’s eyes.
To Klad, whose vision wasn’t restricted even in darkness, he could clearly see that hand was covered in dust and dirt.
“Even knowing that letting my blood flow would be most effective to imbue this land with divine power, I merely placed my hand on it with the excuse that showing a noble harming their body couldn’t be a good example.”
Jake was certainly different from other Wests.
Though it was embarrassing to flip his opinion like turning over his palm after just a few hours when he’d just run out saying this bastard was a West after all, he couldn’t help but acknowledge it. Though there was much room for misunderstanding due to his unpredictable way of speaking, he didn’t feel the disgusting feeling he did when talking with other Wests.
The anger that had filled him tightly until moments ago had somehow subsided without leaving a single grain.
“If the misunderstanding is cleared, please help me, Klad. Before the monster comes again…”
“Enough, follow me.”
Klad strode toward the forest, leaving Jake who was about to crouch on the ground again. Jake, who didn’t want to be left behind with a monster that could burst out at any moment, hurriedly chased after him.
