“Why are you all here?”
“Good day, Your Grace.”
They bowed politely to Evernight, then turned to look at Lihisak.
“Well… Village Chief. I went to the barn as the last patrol spot this morning…”
“The barn?”
Lihisak was startled at the mention of the barn and checked Evernight’s reaction.
“I moved the remaining goats to another place yesterday and took care of the cleanup. The patrol officer in charge checked it last night too.”
Then someone swallowed and answered.
“…That man is dead.”
What? The village chief’s eyes widened as if they would pop out.
“Where is the corpse?”
Evernight, who had been maintaining silence, opened his mouth. His blue eyes flashed.
“Yes, Your Grace. We moved the corpse inside the barracks.”
“What on earth… is going on?”
Evernight didn’t answer and entered the barracks with quick steps.
“You all, keep your mouths shut. Never tell anyone.”
Lihisak hurriedly followed Evernight, who had already disappeared.
“V-Village Chief…!”
One of the patrollers who had learned the news that the widow’s son Joel was searching for his sibling hurriedly called Lihisak, but he had already disappeared into the barracks.
Inside the barracks, Evernight was looking down at something. His large frame blocked the middle torso of the corpse. Lihisak walked around Evernight and stood on the opposite side. Only then seeing the form of the corpse, he let out a gasp.
“They ate the heart.”
The corpse, mutilated beyond recognition, was frozen solid and stiff. The sound of patrollers murmuring in fear outside the barracks leaked in.
Evernight calmly dug through the entrails with an indifferent face.
“Do you know this person?”
The village chief’s expression darkened. This corpse was indeed the one he’d sent on patrol to the barn last night. The village chief reported this while trembling.
‘Is it really the work of monsters?’
“Your Grace. Has a monster… entered Northernmost?”
As Lihisak asked this, he squeezed his eyes shut, afraid to hear the answer.
“H-How could a monster enter…”
Over thousands of years, monster attacks on villages hadn’t been completely absent. But usually they invaded in groups, wiped out an entire village, then disappeared without a trace. They had never secretly harmed people one by one like this. Moreover… it hadn’t been many years since the battle at the Wall ended. After Durok, called the ‘Headless Knight,’ was destroyed, they had lost their power.
“There might be a problem with the magic tools.”
“Commander.”
Just then, Karen stuck his head into the barracks. Evernight instinctively sensed some kind of unease. It was the damned karma handed down by his cursed life.
“Is there a problem with the magic tools?”
Evernight tried to suppress that instinct-like intuition, but it was impossible after all. When it came to unfortunate matters, his intuition was always spot-on.
“No. Master Mage said all the magic tools are operating without problems. It’s just that His Imperial Highness said he was going to search for someone for a moment, so Master Mage accompanied him.”
“Search for who?”
“Ah… there’s a village kid named Ronan who went missing. Also the younger sibling of a kid named Joel.”
Hiek. Lihisak let out a nasal sound and coughed. Evernight turned to look at the village chief, who had turned pale.
“Hey, old man. There are missing people. And a corpse rolling around right here.”
Evernight poked the stiff corpse with his foot.
“Right. What fault could the old man have? It’s a damn cursed land, so it can’t be helped.”
Evernight sneered. Something was going very wrong. Goats, the patroller’s corpse, two missing children.
“Village Chief! The Snowstorm seems to have started!”
A clamoring sound was heard from outside. When they came out of the barn, the Snowstorm that had descended below the Beriela Mountain Range was approaching the Wall with its swollen mass.
Construction materials were flying around everywhere, and patrollers were busy holding onto their thick fur hats.
“Where is Anya now?”
Evernight asked Karen urgently.
“He said he was going around the village. To find that child.”
“Fucking hell.”
Evernight cursed and immediately walked quickly toward his horse. He lightly jumped onto the black warhorse and grabbed the reins.
“Karen. I’m leaving the cleanup here to you.”
“What? Commander… is it really a monster?”
“Yes.”
With a light answer, Evernight drove his horse and quickly galloped into the village square. A rat-like bastard had crawled in from beyond the Wall. His blue eyes began busily searching for someone.
* * *
“Ronan? I don’t know… he’s always stuck to you anyway. *Cough*!”
He didn’t know how many houses it had been already. A gaunt-looking woman coughed and quickly waved her hand telling them to leave. She looked very emaciated as if plagued by illness. Behind the woman, he could see a familiar kid. Joel—one of the group of kids who had visited the inn with Ronan. The kid timidly waved his hand. Sorry, Joel. Take care.
The crude wooden door closed particularly noisily, perhaps because of the strong wind. They came out of the alley without much gain.
“The wind…”
Anya looked up at the sky while tying his fluttering hair into one. Before he knew it, the sky had become hazily cloudy as if covered in fog, and even visual identification wasn’t working properly. It felt like being in a new world.
“It’s the Snowstorm.”
Riario’s toneless voice echoed quietly in the empty village square. Northernmost fell into quiet silence in an instant, like a ghost town. They looked at the massive vortex that had swollen in size as if possessed by something.
“We, we have to find him quickly. Wh-What if he’s injured and c-can’t move? The, the Snowstorm is coming too…”
Anya hurried his steps. Riario followed behind the prince with a small sigh. Since he’d sent Karen to Evernight, his orders would come down soon. The life and death of the kid named Ronan wasn’t very optimistic. In Northernmost, human life was always like a candle before the wind. Especially for a frail young child. Riario didn’t bother to voice this fact and leisurely followed behind Anya, who was walking spiritedly.
“Your Imperial Highness, the sun has already set. It’s time to return now.”
“J-Just one more place.”
“Haven’t we looked around almost everywhere…”
“There’s still a place we haven’t been…”
“The barn! Ronan sometimes goes to the barn to milk the goat’s milk. I don’t know about yesterday, but…”
The milk the kids first gave him was also goat’s milk. Riario narrowed his brow and openly showed his displeasure, but Anya ignored it. On the wedding day, the man who played the imperial family role in the play he saw at Tildyen Rock had cruelly trampled on young children. Yet these Northernmost kids had been kinder to him than anyone. Of course, it was because they didn’t know he was imperial family…
Still, weren’t they just children? Who knows. Maybe he stopped by the barn, sprained his ankle, and got isolated. The Snowstorm was coming soon, so he had to go quickly and save him. Before he froze to death. Anya’s heart became urgent.
“The barn is the last one. Now we need to wrap up and prepare for the Snowstorm. Please.”
“Y-Yes, yes. I’ll k-keep that in mind.”
In fact, Anya didn’t want Riario’s company. He felt conscious of the sighs that piled up every time they visited each house, and he felt sorry for continuing to hold back someone who had work to do.
“I-I’ll search a bit more with Joel. Master M-Mage, you can g-go back…”
He suggested that he could return now, that he would search more alone, but Riario refused outright.
“You think I’ll leave Your Imperial Highness alone and hear what terrible things from Sir Evernight? Thinking about him bringing up responsibility makes my blood run cold.”
Riario rather shivered and grumbled that he had no power.
“Al-Alright. I-I’m sorry.”
Anya earnestly prayed inwardly to the old gods of the empire. Please, let that child be at the barn. Even if he’s a little hurt, it’s okay. So please…
They barely broke through the snowstorm and arrived at the barn on the village outskirts. The barn door was tattered as if someone had torn at it. It was barely hanging on, now embarrassing to even call it a door. The door panel shook frantically like a sheet of paper.
“It seems we’re already too late… Your Imperial Highness!”
Anya opened the barn door, which seemed ready to collapse at any moment, and entered without hesitation. Instantly, an intense smell of blood rushed in. Anya stepped back one step and hurriedly covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve. Nausea washed over him at the terrible smell.
“Master… Mage?”
He hurriedly covered the eyes of Joel, who was following him in. Riario followed in, striking down the cobwebs stuck to the corner of the doorway with his hand, then froze.
“Oh my… Commander, hello.”
Someone was already at the barn. Evernight was kneeling on one knee, holding something that had fallen on the floor. It was a young child’s arm.
