All I could say to the soldiers who carried the two frantic women, who had yet turned twenty and were crying was this.
“Good work. Sorry, but get out of the room right now.”
I knew that my voice was really low. The soldiers ran out of the room as if to escape, without even a salute.
I certainly didn’t issue any detailed instructions about handling the girls, but even if that’s true, they didn’t need to treat the girls like this. What’s the point of letting a man with a similar build to the bandits carry women who looked as if they were captured and tortured by the bandits? It would only make them more fearful.
I praised my past self for gathering the young women of the village ahead of time. I left the women with a tub of hot water and a clean cloth and left the two girls to them.
“Wipe them down. Let’s eat when you’re done. It’s a simple meal, but I made sure that there’s enough for everyone.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
One of the strong-willed village girls looked at me and responded. The other girls either nodded fearfully or blatantly averted their gazes from me.
It was just before noon when we found traces of the bandits around the lumberjack’s hut, which was located to the far north of Neza Village. The soldiers spent a long time in pursuit, and I received word that they had found the bandits two hours ago. From there, the fief army managed to rescue the girls, and although days were long during the summer, it was already dinner time.
The meals were mostly prepared by the village chef’s wife, but I had bread and fruit from the Golden Hill Mansion since I didn’t know what the abducted girls could eat. Claudia and three soldiers who had accompanied her brought the food here, and I thanked them by giving them some fruits.
“Hmm… fruits…”
“I didn’t… have any meat dishes prepared. I’ll have them prepare some for you after the bandits’ case is completely resolved.”
I pacified Claudia, who looked like she was going to shrug, and instructed the women in the vicinity to prepare the meal before turning my gaze back to the two sobbing girls.
The two women were so young that they could still be called girls, and both of them looked terribly tragic. I could imagine what had happened to them after the army had found their hair, but both girls had their hair mangled. It was obvious at a glance that they had been hit since there were bruises all over their bodies, and they had cuts and teeth marks on their hands and legs. The clothes they were wearing were tattered. The clothes covering their chest and their skirt had been torn off.
The pain they had suffered had become more evident as the women in the village had wiped their bodies clean.
I’m glad that the clothes of Kaldia are loose since their bodies are covered in wounds. If they wore a corset or wrapped their arms and legs with cloth tightened with string, then it would be painful for them just to wear clothes. I stopped the women from trying to wrap sashes around the girls since they were in the presence of the feudal lord and shared the food that had been brought with the girls.
“Please eat. Your body will warm up if you eat.”
After cleaning themselves and eating until they were satisfied, the two victimised girls finally seemed to have calmed down since they knew that they were surrounded by women they knew. Their eyes, which were now shaking in anxiety, were no longer focused on their surroundings, but on Claudia and me, the strangers, and their bodies had stopped trembling.
I felt a little gloomy about what I was about to do. I had to ask the girls about why the bandits had taken them. I was obliged to do this even though I knew that this would drag out their fears after they’ve finally regained their composure.
“… Have you calmed down a bit?”
We stayed in the same room even though there was nothing I could do for them so that they could get used to my presence. I hated myself a little for doing this too. Despite those feelings, I took out my bundle of notes and charcoal.
The two girls nodded, nervously. All the women, including the two girls, had an expression on their faces that said that the conversation was finally beginning. However, the mothers next to the girls, looked at me in a somewhat reproachful way. I ignored them as if tearing them out of my consciousness and began talking.
“I want you to tell me everything you can remember about what the people who assaulted you were doing and saying.”
I didn’t ask if this was alright since this was information I had to hear at all costs.
The two girls turned pale in an instant. They were probably trying to dig up those hellish memories as they held back their tears.
At that moment, the charcoal in my hand crumbled. It seemed as if I had unconsciously tightened my grip on the charcoal. I told myself to calm down as I wrapped cloth around a new piece of charcoal.
The village women stared at me with their eyes wide open.
The bandits numbered around twenty. All of them were moving around on beasts.
According to the girls, there were two middle-aged men who seemed to be the leaders, and they often disputed with the group members over which paths to take. There also seemed to be many others who were filled with resentment over the amount of food and the fact that they didn’t raid villages.
The bandits had tried to get the girls to lead them to Lecheneaut Village, which was located to the northwest of Neza Village. However, there were no roads leading to Lecheneaut from Neza. Thus the girls have never visited Lecheneaut and were used as playthings for the bandits.
――― This is too suspicious. It seems that the bandits are moving around in a conspicuous way. They dared to stay in one place, approach a village and kidnap girls while holding onto their retreat route so that they wouldn’t be caught. They had been moving straight towards the centre of Arxia Kingdom until they entered Kaldia and had slowed down here and there. They might have slowed down because they couldn’t find a route to pass the vigilance of the fief, or because they needed to plunder a village for food. But I have a feeling those aren’t the reasons why they slowed down.
It was clear that they weren’t an ordinary bandit group from the way they broke through the border and cleverly used the fief lines to fend off their pursuers, and their intentions were too…
“It’s a diversion.”
Claudia, who had begun mapping the movements of the bandit group on a map of the Jugfena region, grumbled while nodding to herself.
“Diversion…”
She turned towards me when she said those words.
“Ah, it’s a tactic where a group with excellent mobility attracts the enemy army and takes their attention away from another group who are moving in a different direction. In short, it’s a decoy. The movements of a decoy team and the movements of the bandits are similar.”
“… I see. So, this is war then?”
A diversion group has invaded from the neighbouring kingdom. This meant that there was someone working behind the scenes. I knew that the bandits had come here for a reason, but I was uneasy since I didn’t know what that reason was. However, if it turned out to be a decoy, then this might be a clue to the enemy’s plan.
“… War? Yes. Then, let’s think about the reason behind this war!”
“What does the enemy want from this tactic?”
“Do you know?”
I closed my eyes and my mind wandered through the information I had.
… There are some people sneaking around within the kingdom as well. There are two groups of people going in and out of the north; a faction of the church who are dissatisfied with the current noble system, and northern nobles who object to the decisions made by the kingdom. The power to overturn this kingdom doesn’t exist with the Church, who don’t have power, nor with Nordsterm, who only have funds, ――― but what about Rindarl?
“We don’t have enough information to tell what the enemy wants.”
“I see…”
I only have information from within the kingdom. If my predictions are correct, then those within the kingdom will move in response to those outside of the kingdom. I don’t know how much their interests align, but the leaders’ objectives are far out of my reach.
“Let’s catch the diversion group first. If we leave them alone then they will do something showy to get our attention. We might be able to get the information that we’re missing from them through interrogation if we capture them.”
“I don’t know if they’ll give up information if we interrogate them… But the fact of the matter is that they’ve escaped from us quite successfully so far. How do we catch them?”
“They’ll attack a village sooner or later. That’s when we’ll strike. We’ll set a trap for them, so they won’t be able to get away.”
Neither man nor beast can move without food. I can read their movements if I can tell it’s a diversion… Even if I can’t, Claudia can with her natural talent for all things related to warfare.
“Which village will they target, Claudia-dono?”
Her expression quickly changed when I asked her this question. Her girly innocence disappeared, and her eyes looked deeply thoughtful, which was usually unimaginable on her.
“… They know the territory. But they probably don’t know everything. Their tracks show that they had to detour a few times since they couldn’t pass through the road. The fact that they kidnapped these girls to lead them to Lecheneaut is proof of that.”
“They probably only know about the fief lines, the general locations of the villages and the names of the villages.”
“I don’t think they know everything about the villages either… So, they’ll either be in Lecheneaut or Milda.”
Claudia named the two villages that were located to the northwest of Neza.
“They probably know that we are closing in on the south, so they won’t go there. There are only hills to the east of Milda, so the view is great. I can’t narrow down where they will go since there probably isn’t one leader… It also depends on if the enemy knows about these locations, but they will go to Milda Village if they want to be cautious. If morale is their priority, then they will go to Lecheneaut. There’s a high chance that they’ll go to Lecheneaut.”
I nodded and rolled up the map.
“Then, let’s go. I’ll leave the search and pursuit to the Sill Tribe and form a team to trap them with Gunter and the soldiers who are used to setting up the settlement.”
“Certainly, Elju-dono.”
“… My name is Eliza, Claudia-dono.”
“Ah, sorry, Eliza-dono.”
It was only for a brief moment that I thought that her abilities to read the enemy’s movements were reliable before she said my name wrong again and I slumped over.
Lecheneaut Village was sealed off first and bandits were led towards Milda Village. There was no time to make preparations to catch the bandits in Lecheneaut, Neza’s neighbouring village.
I left driving the bandits to Milda to the Sill Tribe warriors who were led by Theomer and Rashiok, and after dividing the Sill Tribe and fief army among Lecheneaut, Neza and Karon, Claudia and I, along with a small number of selected soldiers, moved to Milda Village.
… We must capture them here. The enemy is also running out of leeway. If they recognise that they have been cornered any further, then they will probably divide up to scatter their pursuers. They might start looting villages to cause chaos.
The people of Milda Village were as distrustful and wary of me as they had been when I came here for my birthday celebration. Of course, their attitude towards me wouldn’t change since I hadn’t made any contact with them at all since ordering for the formation of the vigilante group last summer. I let the soldiers rest before having them prepare the trap while feeling the piercing gazes of the villagers.
There was an irrigation channel across Milda Village. Luckily, it had remained largely undestroyed, even during my father’s misrule, and was quickly repaired by Earl Thelesia. I knew of its existence, but this was the first time I had actually seen it in person. I didn’t get to see the irrigation channel last year, during my birthday celebration, since we had only passed through the centre of the village.
The source of the water came from underground water that was flowing out from Amon Nohl to the north, and the water was pure enough to drink since it was purified several times while it was flowing down. I was so impressed that I drank the water straight away. Then, I gave water to the horse I was riding. I wiped off my sweat and fed the horse.
Right next to the village, I saw the soldiers had finished their short break and started digging trenches that would serve as the trap. The trap was set up well, as I had expected, thanks to the large number of tents that had been gathered from the surrounding fiefs for the new citizens that I had accepted, and to the soldiers who were selected from those who had sent up the encampment.
――― I could even see that some of the villagers had surrounded us at a distance and were casually holding farm tools in their hand. Their hateful and hostile gazes mixed in with the heat waves of the hot summer air.
When my father was the feudal lord, his main pawns, the soldiers of the fief army, had been the object of hatred and fear to the people of this fief. Those soldiers were the first thing that Earl Thelesia and I disposed of. There wasn’t a single soldier from those days left in the current fief army.
Regardless, the villagers of Milda Village stared at the soldiers with gloom.
… The gazes they directed towards me were equally as gloomy.
Before I knew it, I had dropped my clenched fists into the running water of the channel. A boy soldier, who was standing nearby, came to my side, perhaps because he had heard the sound of the splashing water. It was Paul, who had served as a messenger in Jugfena. He had gone from a squire to an official soldier after returning from Jugfena Fortress, and although he had never stepped foot in the developing land, Claudia valued his nimbleness, and had him come along in case we needed a messenger.
He dropped his gaze curiously onto the irrigation channel and asked in a friendly tone, “My Lord, what are you doing?” His wavy golden hair swayed lightly in the wind. It reminded me of spring fluff and made me feel a little better.
“I’m cooling my hands in the water. My hands got sweaty in the gloves, and it feels gross…”
My hands, which were wet from sweat and burnt, gradually lost their heat in the flowing water that remained cold even in the summer heat. At the same time, it seemed to have cooled the heavy and murky feelings of guilt that I had towards the villagers.
Paul copied me and dipped his hand into the water. “Ah, it’s really cold,” he muttered, then smiled happily.
“It makes you want to bath in cold water, doesn’t it?”
“It would be nice in this heat, but I don’t think it would be possible in an irrigation channel. I’ve asked the villagers to prepare a tub for you to wipe your body with, so you’ll have to be satisfied with that.”
“Alright. ――― I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but you don’t seem like you’re younger than me, My Lord. You act like you’re older.”
Unsure about how to answer the boy who had said this in admiration, I dropped my gaze to the water. Paul giggled next to me. The boy’s laughter was terribly out of place in this tense village, but I felt strangely relieved as I listened to him. It was as if he was sprinkling peace around us.
“…To the villagers, you have a scary expression on your face, My Lord.”
“Ah.”
Paul gave a small nod towards the villagers who were surrounding us as if it was nothing. I couldn’t do anything but nod my head and smile wryly.
“I used to live in this village. But my home is in Claria Village now.”
“Oh, Is that so? Just to let you know, I won’t give you the time to get reacquainted with people.”
I reminded him while being confused at his abrupt confession, and Paul blurted out, “Hey, what’s with that reaction?”
“Ahaha, of course I know that. That wasn’t what I meant… Don’t you want me to convince the villagers? I’m sure the villagers remember me.”
I blinked when he told me this. Convince. I hadn’t thought about that.
“I thought that My Lord was scary before I joined the army. The villagers are also afraid of My Lord. You don’t smile at all, so it was the same even after I joined the army.”
“I don’t think you’ll look scary if you just smiled a little,” he muttered in the end, but my ears picked this up.
“But I didn’t think you were scary when I saw you trying to help the Sill Tribe. When I talk to you now, it’s kind of a let-down, since our conversations are surprisingly normal. My parents didn’t suffer during the reign of the previous feudal lord, so I might be the only person who feels this way… But I think it’s a bit of a shame for them to be afraid of you without knowing how you are. It’s tiring for both sides.”
Paul began to speak without context, which was egoistic and extremely meddlesome. Even so, my heart remained calm and I just listened to him without interrupting.
Convince… Would it be better to persuade the villagers that the fief army were no longer the feudal lord’s pawns?
The army soldiers would rather have my head chopped off in a heartbeat if I lost my way. To Earl Thelesia and I, the soldiers were one of the guidelines that reflected the will of the people, and they were like internal audits to me. It wasn’t desirable at all to leave them in a situation where they are viewed as ‘pawns of the feudal lord’ since that would only increase the citizens’ anxiety.
The cool breeze blowing down from the mountains intercepted the summer heat and sent it flying. Paul and I remained silent and listened to the sound of the wind and the running water for a short while.
Even if I let him convince them, the current ‘fief army’ doesn’t have any persuasive power over any village. I felt bad for Paul, who was waiting for my answer, but I don’t think his words would lower the villager’s suspicion and caution.
About half an hour later, the village suddenly got noisy.
“Eliza-dono, it’s an emergency.”
Claudia softly whispered to me. She didn’t get my name wrong for once and had the most serious look in her eyes that I have ever seen. I left him alone and wondered what I should do.
Paul looked up at Claudia anxiously.
“What’s going on?”
“A monster has been found in the woods near the village. I heard that it is unusually similar to a large Lisol. I also found traces of monsters while surveying the area, so I would like you to check it out.”
Claudia picked me up and put me on her horse as she gave her report. Then, she jumped up behind me and called out to Paul as she pulled the reins.
“Can you go ask the villagers for more information? I believe the person who found the monster is still resting in the hall.”
“Yes.”
Paul nodded, and I gave him another order while watching his back as he was about to run off as fast as he could.
“Paul, talk to the vigilante corps and Gunter while you’re at it. Tell them to gather at the village chief’s house.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
This time, Claudia pulled the reins as I watched Paul run off.
Claudia and I sat down on chairs that had been prepared for us in a large room at the village chief’s house. Those who had gathered before us also sat down in their respective seats in silence, while various emotions ran across their faces. There were a lot of people in the room, but it didn’t feel stuffy since there was a half opened window on the ceiling. Claudia took the cup that had been given to her and gulped it down.
The chairs were arranged in a circle. Gunter sat on the other side of Claudia, and next to him sat a soldier named Asyl, who looked nervous.
On the other side of Claudia sat a dirty man and woman, who were looking around nervously. They were the coordinators of the vigilante corps in Cyril Village. There weren’t enough men in this fief, so women also joined the vigilante corps. The village chief sat at the back, and he was looking at me in fright.
The last person, who was sitting furthest away from me, was Paul, and he was looking around, puzzled.
“Paul, report on the monster that the villagers say they saw.”
“Y-yes!”
Paul wasn’t used to being present for such an occasion and replied in a shrill voice. He shrieked a little when Gunter looked at him sharply. Then, he gulped a few times before speaking in a calm voice.
“According to the villagers, the person, who went to get firewood, found a monster they had never seen before in the woods to the north. They said it looked like a large Lisol. It seemed to be preying on the wild sheep in the forest, so if it is left alone, then the village might get damaged.”
“Did you ask what kind of monster it was?”
“Yes. Unlike Lisols, it was apparently covered in rocks and icy crystals instead of scales.”
I see, Claudia and I looked at each other and nodded.
We could narrow down the monsters that fit the bill by combining the traces that Claudia had found with the information from the witness.
“It’s almost certainly a Radcisilka. It’s a monster that mainly lives at the foot of Amon Nohl and possesses magic that freezes anything that touches its claws. I’ve seen the traces that Claudia found and there are claw marks that look like they belong to a radcisilka in the eastern outskirts of the northern forest.”
Radcisilkas avoided sunlight and moved in shady places like caves and forests during the day, probably because of its nature of living in Amon Nohl, which was covered in clouds all year long. According to the vigilante corps, the northern forest had more trees to the west, so it is thought that the radcisilka had moved westward to avoid the sunlight.
“It freezes anything that touches its claws. Hey… Sorry, we’ll be able to preserve meat in summer if we catch that, right?”
Gunter commented lightly, but unfortunately, that won’t go well.
“No. The claws of radcisilka contain a liquid that is poisonous to humans, and the frozen food will be contaminated by that poison. We must take care of it before it enters the village.”
When I answered, everyone paled. It’s not every day that you come across a life-threatening monster. They must have realised that this threat was very close to the village.
After actually seeing the monster in the forest, it was determined that it was indeed a Radcisilka, and the vigilante corps surrounded the forest with torches. Radcisilkas were sensitive to heat and didn’t like fire. One couldn’t help but wonder why a monster like that would come down from the snowy mountains in summer.
… Speaking of which, I looked up at the sky. The sun was completely sinking behind Amon Nohl while we were preparing. There were a number of phosphorescent moths dancing in under the night sky, making sparks. It seems like there are a lot more phosphorescent moths this year.
“Abnormal behaviour can be seen from the monsters, huh?”
I naturally frowned as I muttered this. I recalled the documents that Earl Thelesia had sent me after I woke up from my coma. They were documents about the Jugfena Fortress’s defensive war.
The refugees from old Artolas which had been killed inside the fortress; their corpses were said to have been torn apart by fangs and claws of large beasts.
“My lord, we’re ready.”
I was thinking about the monster when Gunter called out to me and my attention returned to the forest in front of me.
“Good work. Claudia-dono and I will wait outside of the forest… Listen, don’t forget to heat your weapons with the wooden braziers when you attack.”
Three soldiers were given buckets filled with red charcoal and five soldiers were given weapons. That was the number of soldiers that I’d managed to pull away from the group that was preparing traps for the bandits. It was an undependable number of soldiers for exterminating a monster, but I could only leave it to Gunter and hope that they stay safe.
“I’m going to give you this order just in case but prioritise your lives over anything else. You dying will cause more damage than failing to get rid of the monster. Is that clear? … Alright, go.”
“Aye!”
They replied in unison, and the soldiers, led by Gunter with a spear in his hand, headed into the forest. The trees gradually hid them, and I soon lost sight of them altogether.
“I hope this ends peacefully…”
Paul muttered softly as he stood behind me. He was peering anxiously at the villagers, who were surrounding the forest with their torches, instead of the forest.
“Those who live in the martial world believe in their comrades, act with confidence and wait without panicking.”
Claudia chided him in a much calmer voice than usual, and Paul quickly straightened up and turned towards the forest.
A tension-filled silence spread all around us.
Then ――― the soldiers’ roar echoed from within the forest.
Everyone stared at the forest with intense concentration. The tension from inside the forest could be conveyed by sound alone. Someone gulped and cleared their throat.
Gunter’s angry roars mixed in with the soldiers’ screams. That was how I could tell that they were having a tough time. I clutched my sleeves tightly.
“… Hey, isn’t it kind of cold?”
Who was the first person to say that?
Like cold air that emitted from ice, the cool air unpleasantly caressed the parts of my body which weren’t covered by thin and short sleeves.
Just then, a strange sound came from the forest.
It sounded like a snap. The sounds overlapped each other and became audible, and the soldiers in the forest began to raise their voices in confusion and surprise. After the screams, there was the sound of something hard crashing together.
Something strange was happening. The outside of the forest was completely silent. Everyone, including me, was staring at what was going on in the forest.
“Ah, look at that! The forest is freezing over!”
One of the villagers shouted in a panic. Everyone started making a commotion.
When I looked in the direction that the villager was pointing, I saw that the trees were indeed frozen white. Furthermore, the white area was slowly expanding; more area was being frozen.
“Its magic is enough to freeze the forest…?”
This was the origin of the chill from earlier. I felt uneasy about whether Gunter and the others in the forest are safe. The area around Radcisilkas should be completely frozen.
The fact that they were wearing leather armour instead of metal armour actually helped in this situation. How bad would their frostbite be had they been wearing metal armour over their thin summer clothes?
All I could do was listen carefully to see if mournful voices were coming from the forest.
Then, Claudia suddenly jumped in front of me.
I saw a giant lizard running towards us while mowing down trees over Claudia’s back. A radcisilka with arrows stuck on its body was crawling towards us at an extremely fast speed. Silver blood was spraying out from its body.
“Whoa! It came out?!”
The villagers behind us all screamed in unison.
“Paul-dono, evacuate!”
Paul snapped at the sound of Claudia’s voice, and picked me up. At the same time, Claudia drew the sword at her waist. The sword wasn’t long, and she threw it with great momentum at the Radcisilka, which made me wonder how such power can come from her slender arms.
The sword pierced into the Radcisilka’s forehead with a thump. But even so, the giant lizard didn’t die. It opened its huge mouth which was lined with fiendishly sharp teeth and jumped forward at Claudia in order to bite her.
“Claudia!”
I yelled.
Claudia’s long golden hair spread out beautifully in the air. I saw her leap in the air gracefully as her hair flipped in the air. She nimbly escaped from the Radcisilka’s teeth. She held her spear with both hands and thrusted it into the Radcisilka’s neck.
There was a duller and louder sound than when it was stabbed with the sword earlier. Claudia skilfully used her own falling weight and strongly pierced the Radcisilka’s flesh open.
I snatched a torch from a nearby villager.
“Claudia-dono, fire!”
Claudia safely grabbed the tossed torch with one hand and pressed the flame against the tip of her spear.
The radcisilka squirmed violently. White smoke that looked like water vapour erupted from the place where Claudia had pressed the flame.
“Hold it down!”
Gunter jumped out from the forest and swung the broadsword in his right hand down onto the lizard’s neck.
The soldiers came out after him and surrounded the lizard before swinging their swords down.
Silver blood spread out from their feet in a flash.
――― The radcisilka eventually turned over on its back and stopped moving.
The corpse of the lizard, which had finally died after having several swords, arrows and spears stabbed into its body, was stained silver in its own blood and became magnificent.