The immense wall filled his still-naive hazelnut pupils completely. Something overwhelmingly imposing existed there—far too impossibly grand to be called a human creation. A strange flow seeped out from between the gray rocks that formed the wall. That flow became a shallow breeze and tickled Anya’s bangs. Anya could definitely feel it. This wall had undoubtedly been built with the aid of magical power.
“Hey! This gap here hasn’t been filled yet.”
People were precariously clinging to various spots on the wall. Each time the wind blew, the ropes they depended on swayed. Though his heart chilled and his body flinched each time, the others didn’t seem particularly bothered.
“Hey, watch out!”
Anya was startled by a sharp shout from behind and quickly moved his body aside. Several strong men were coming, rolling a massive boulder. Since the enormous boulder couldn’t be loaded onto a cart, they laid logs underneath and rolled it along to transport it.
“That’s the new mistress of Tildyen. Watch your tongue.”
The oldest-looking man at this site scolded the young men. They grunted as they pulled the ropes and gave a slight nod. They all looked young. Even wearing thick padded clothes and hats, their thin frames were obvious at a glance. He had no idea where they got such strength.
“I-I seem to be in the w-way.”
Anya quickly realized there was nothing he could do here. Seeing how the old man managing the site in Evernight’s stead was making such a fuss made it even more certain.
“We need to leave spaces at intervals in the wall.”
Yes, yes. The young men gave half-hearted responses to the old man’s words. They looked cold and utterly exhausted. But there was nothing Anya could readily step forward to do. Here, the boy was thoroughly an outsider.
“We need to install the magical devices the mage brought at intervals in the wall. It’s to prevent the monsters beyond the wall from crossing over.”
The old man eagerly added explanations for the somewhat dejected-looking mistress of Tildyen. The old man seemed to take great pride in this work. The face of someone doing work they love shone even when skin clung to bone.
“Is there… is there nothing I can h-help with?”
“How could the mistress do such hard labor!”
Oh my, don’t say such alarming things. The old man waved his hands in shock.
“There’s a humble rest tent over there, so please rest there. It may not look it, but the wall runs through the entire village, so it will take the Duke some time to inspect it all.”
If only he could have fully gathered his magic before coming here, he could have helped Riario install the magical devices. In the busy site where everyone was doing their part, Anya floated alone like an isolated island.
*’Anya Claicer. You foolish idiot! You’re useless. Doing nothing is what’s best for this world.’*
His siblings’ angry voices flowed in on the wind. Helplessness quickly filled him, and Anya headed for the tent almost at a run.
As the old man said, the rest tent was cramped and shabby. Cloth woven from old scraps fluttered here and there in the occasional desolate wind. Still, the wooden poles must have been driven deep, as it didn’t seem likely to collapse easily.
Just then, someone rushed toward Anya. They were very young children, much smaller than Anya. One little one who bumped into Anya’s legs plopped down on the snow on their bottom.
“Are you, are you okay?”
Before Anya could hurriedly bend his knees and extend his hand, the Northernmost child sprang right up. Someone was shouting and charging after them like a bison.
“You brats!”
The woman grabbed the child by the scruff of the neck and roughly pulled them up. She didn’t know who Anya was, but she noticed at a glance that the clothes the boy wore were high-quality fabric. In Northernmost, it was fabric they couldn’t even dream of, couldn’t obtain in the first place.
“Please forgive them.”
She hastily bowed her head and dragged the children away urgently.
“You think this is a playground? Stop just wasting bread and go over there and fill the gaps!”
Though their mouths protested, the young children followed the woman’s words and began struggling to carry wooden buckets. Their small hands were swollen red and puffy from the harsh cold.
Only then did Anya realize that most of the people of Northernmost were participating in building the wall. From old men to young children. Everyone, regardless of gender.
*’Still, even those children….’*
Anya perched awkwardly on a chair inside the tent and watched the backs of the little ones. Those children carried the wooden buckets and carefully applied a whitish, viscous liquid to the gaps between the wall’s rocks. While wiping their noses, the sticky liquid sometimes got all over their faces. But no one cared about such things.
“Here is some warm goat’s milk.”
The women who had been pounding stone fragments into small pieces with mallets near the children heard Anya’s identity from the old man and hastily brought a cup. It was a crudely carved wooden cup.
“Give it to th-those k-kids.”
Anya waved his hand. In the distance, the little ones were smacking their lips and looking this way.
“But…”
The women trailed off for a moment. They were secretly grateful for Anya’s refusal but couldn’t accept it at face value. This naive-looking mistress was a noble after all. Who knew when he might transform like a monster and whip them.
However, this was the mistress brought in by the first lord of Tildyen to lead the battle beyond the wall to victory. Moreover, since Northernmost was always several months behind on news, they still didn’t know that Tildyen’s new mistress was of Claicer imperial blood.
“I’ve e-eaten a l-lot. Re-really.”
When Anya showed his refusal once more, the women finally gave the milk to the little ones. The children must have been hungry, as they hastily emptied the milk. A few children waved their hands toward Anya without reading the room, only to be stopped by the women’s hands.
Anya smiled and waved back. In those children clutching their hungry bellies and starting work again despite drinking the milk, Anya found his younger self from a few years ago.
“Everyone come over here and lend a hand!”
People shouted from over there. The women wiped their stone-dust-covered hands on their aprons and quickly ran to them.
“Ronan! This hole is too small. You go in.”
“Oh, really. They always make me do these awful jobs.”
“The adults said if we don’t apply it carefully, it’ll collapse. Then the monsters will come over and kill us all.”
“That damn reason…”
When the women disappeared, the little ones started bickering quietly as if this was their chance. Ronan, who had a particularly small build, poured out complaints but still got on his knees and crawled into the gap beneath the wall.
“It’s too dark to see!”
“You know oil is precious. There are no torches in Northernmost. Apply it by eye.”
“Who was it that just said if we don’t apply it carefully, the wall will collapse?”
The wall wasn’t simply made of a single layer. Since watchtowers were needed on top of the wall for sentries to stand watch regularly, it was built in double layers with a long path laid on top. From inside the gap between the walls came Ronan’s grumbling. I really can’t see anything!
“Um, ex-excuse me…”
Until now, Anya had carefully traced over the rune letters Sabelli had drawn with a quill pen each time they gradually faded. Anya concentrated all his attention on one point on his palm.
*’Please, please, please….’*
A cluster of white light gathered beneath Anya’s hand and quickly disappeared. The most basic magic was ‘illuminating darkness with bright light.’ The purest, most primordial form of technique.
“Aah! I hit my head. Joel, it’s really dark and creepy in here.”
“Just beyond the stones is the land of death. Mom says the nights are getting longer, it’s a dark age. All because of the evil beings beyond the wall.”
Joel’s voice lowered. Indeed, as the child said, the sky was gloomy even though it was midday. For a moment, fear and anxiety appeared on the children’s faces. The desolate surroundings instantly became quiet, but somehow the children restlessly trembled their legs or bodies.
Joel must have noticed the atmosphere too, as he needlessly pressed Ronan.
“Ronan! Stop now and come out! Don’t stay in there too long!”
“……”
There was no answer from inside. Just then, a flock of crows flew over from beyond the wall, making unpleasant cawing sounds. At the dark mass instantly covering the sky, the little ones let out short screams.
Kyaa!
The little ones covered their ears and frantically threw themselves on the ground. Anya also jumped up from his seat in surprise. The flock of crows was endless. Those birds were endlessly flying from the unknown land beyond that wall.
“Ronan!”
While prone, Joel shouted toward the gap in the wall. His green eyes shook intensely. Whether it was part of a natural phenomenon or truly the cunning trick of an evil being, it was enough to drive the young children into terror.
It was the same for Anya. His heart pounded with fear. It felt like undead would pop out at any moment.
