For two days, we were hauled around like luggage inside the cramped wagon.
The wagon’s pace had noticeably slowed, and soon it came to a complete stop.
“What’s this? Is it time to eat already?”
“No. There’s still about an hour left until breakfast.”
“Then have we arrived at our destination?”
“Get off! If you don’t stretch even a little, your backside’s going to rot off!”
The children poured out of the wagon like a flood.
We followed suit. As if the wagon were possessed, we jumped off in a hurry and kept our distance.
“Keke, what a dreadful trip this has been.”
“I feel the same. This was worse than Carpathia, wasn’t it? This is why I hate countryside roads.”
Luna wasn’t wrong. The ground beneath our feet was so uneven that standing felt precarious.
Calling it a “road” was generous; it wasn’t even worthy of that label.
Realizing that we’d have to take this same path again on the way back made my vision go dark with despair.
“I miss Carpathia’s well-paved roads.”
“Keke, you never know. This place might turn into a bustling city like Carpathia someday.”
“That’s impossible. All this place has is a nearly depleted iron mine.”
Our current destination: Trash Village.
Two days ago, during Caron’s briefing, we received a brief overview of this village.
“Who would’ve thought a village once praised for feeding an entire territory would end up like this?”
Trash Village’s iron mine had once been so productive it earned the nickname “Dragon’s Gift.”
The quantity of iron ore it produced was staggering, and the quality was top-notch. It was no exaggeration to say it sustained the entire territory.
But that was over a decade ago. At some point, the output of the mine started to dwindle significantly.
As the iron ore dwindled, so did the number of miners. That much was inevitable.
The real problem, however, wasn’t just the miners leaving.
Their families left too. And as the population dropped, merchants also began to abandon the village one by one.
Now that the mine was practically dry, only a handful of miners and their families, along with elderly folks who had seen the village’s glory days, remained.
“It’s the textbook example of a dying village. It’s a problem happening all over the empire these days.”
“Keke, if only they had invested that wealth properly.”
“They did invest. The problem is they failed.”
Indeed, the former lord of this land, Count Kelven, had invested all of the immense profits from Trash Village into knights, military training, and weapon manufacturing, revealing his ambition to dominate the northern-central region of the empire.
The well-trained soldiers fulfilled their roles admirably, annexing neighboring territories one by one. It seemed as though Count Kelven was on the verge of becoming the undisputed ruler of the northern-central region.
“If only the war with the Rohan Kingdom hadn’t happened.”
The betrayal and sudden attack by their supposed allies, the Rohan Kingdom.
At the time, the empire was already engaged in a war in the west and needed time to gather troops. To extinguish this unexpected fire, they had to mobilize whatever forces were immediately available.
Enter the students of Annwood Academy and Count Kelven’s army.
“It was the moment when Master’s legend began.”
That’s right. It was the war where Lucia earned her title as a war hero.
Lucia’s name spread far and wide as she was awarded a 9th-grade honor, a rarity in the empire. Meanwhile, Count Kelven was only granted a 7th-grade honor.
It was ironic, considering that without Count Kelven’s forces, Lucia likely would have perished on the battlefield.
‘Sure, there were political reasons for making Lucia a symbol of hope, but… it was probably also the emperor’s plan to crush Count Kelven’s power.’
After the war ended, Count Kelven tried to reclaim his glory by gathering all the resources he could muster for another territorial war.
But he lost to the allied forces of neighboring lords.
Not only did he lose all the territories he had annexed, but he also had to surrender every piece of land except for Trash Village as compensation.
In the end, he was demoted to a Baron.
The rough, dirt-covered ground beneath our feet told the story of how far he had fallen.
“Honestly, I don’t get why nobles keep making such idiotic decisions.”
“Keke, aren’t you a noble yourself, Luna?”
“I-I’m different! I’m one of the good ones! Anyway, it’s the villagers I feel bad for. They lost their chance to thrive because of an incompetent lord…”
Trash Village would soon lose even its name and become a ghost town.
That was what everyone thought.
Everyone except me, that is.
“You never know. Maybe we’ll find something amazing here.”
“Something amazing?”
“Life’s full of surprises. If you look with hope, you might just find something.”
“What’s this? You’re unusually optimistic.”
Luna looked at me with a curious expression.
She didn’t seem to know this, but I’ve always been an optimistic person.
It’s only because my party members include you and Rezé that I come across as negative.
“Wanna bet? If I win, you’ll have to make me your only friend forever.”
“Keke, that’s quite the dire punishment for someone as social as me. What do I get if I win?”
“Hmm~ If this place becomes as prosperous as Carpathia, I’ll marry you.”
Luna, that’s not a reward—that’s torture.
I couldn’t help but imagine a future where I was married to Luna. A cold sweat trickled down my neck.
Wiping the sweat away with a handkerchief, I replied,
“Keke, that might just be the scariest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“Of course, I was joking, but still, it’s irritating. Why are you so scared? If a beautiful and adorable woman like me offered to marry you, shouldn’t you be thanking me instead?”
Luna, who was perched on my back, bit down on my ear as if to punish me.
At that moment, a child softly climbed down from the wagon.
“Heh, hehe… Staying still is the best…”
It was none other than Rezé, the Pufferfish Rabbit. Unlike the other kids who were all pale and weary, her face gleamed with vitality.
It was because she had eaten well and slept soundly for the past two days.
Two days ago, Rezé had nestled herself in a corner of the wagon like a rabbit and hadn’t budged since, except for meal times.
‘How could she relax so comfortably in a wagon that rattled non-stop…?’
She was truly a mysterious rabbit.
Rezé looked at the wagon wistfully.
“Keke, don’t be too sad. We’ll ride it again on the way back.”
“Heh, hehe… Resting… sounds, good.”
Of course, before that—
“We have to catch a demon.”
“W-What…?”
Rezé froze stiff, recalling the briefing Caron had given us two days ago.
He had mentioned we should be careful since there might be a demon lurking in the area.
“W-Why would we have to do that?”
“Well… because it’s a demon?”
“But t-the instructors are here! I-I think we’d just g-get in the way!”
“Rezé, calm down. It hasn’t even been confirmed that there’s a demon here yet.”
“Y-You’re right. That’s true.”
Luna held Rezé’s hand, and the rabbit girl gradually regained her composure.
A rabbit that listens to a cat’s words better than its owner’s…
I should give her a small scolding. Discipline is the owner’s duty, after all.
“Even if there’s no demon, don’t worry. I’ll summon one myself.”
“Y-You’re kidding, right?”
“Keke…”
“…?”
“Kekekekekekeke!!”
“A-A DEMON! There’s a demon right here!!!”
Maybe Rezé had realized what I was capable of. She began screaming in terror.
Smack!
Suddenly, my head jerked slightly to the side. Someone had hit me on the back of the head.
The culprit, who dared strike me, was none other than Caron.
“Why did you hit me?”
“Exorcising a demon.”
“Keke, well, you failed. I haven’t summoned one yet.”
“Great. Then let me tell you something: the demon inside me is about to come out. It’s been a while since I gave the assembly command.”
Our gazes naturally shifted behind Caron.
The rest of the kids were all gathered in a tight group, waiting patiently. Everyone except us.
“Your demon versus my demon. Want to see who wins? I think it’ll be a fun match.”
Crack—Pop!
A strange sound came from Caron’s body.
It meant he was about to enter Killing Machine mode.
“Keke, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Caron instructor’s Killing Machine mode.”
I’d encountered it a few times at the beginning of the semester. Back then, as now, avoiding him was the best strategy.
Well, it didn’t really matter to me since I had my Luna shield to rely on. I could take my time.
“We’d better get out of here. If we don’t, we won’t even have bones left to recover.”
I turned around, intending to use Luna as my shield. But she was nowhere to be seen.
And then I saw it.
Luna and Rezé, already far ahead, sprinting for their lives.
Rezé was even running on all fours.
“…”
“…Hahaha.”
There was no time to curse them. I started running with all my might.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
Behind me, the Killing Machine was closing in.
It was early morning, close to dawn, and the surrounding area was blanketed in thick fog.
Perhaps there was a lake nearby. The dense mist created an eerie atmosphere as Caron’s briefing began.
“We’re near Trash Village. From here on, we’ll walk. Taking the wagon any further would only unsettle the villagers. Estimated walking time is about 30 minutes.”
Though it was a bit of a distance, the kids let out sighs of relief.
They’d all much rather walk for hours than endure any more time in that bone-rattling wagon.
“The villagers currently believe we’re here for a vacation.”
If word got out that we were here to hunt a demon, the demon would undoubtedly flee.
Claiming this was a vacation was a convenient cover for our mission.
The rumors about the Carpathia defense had long since spread, so it wouldn’t seem odd for 1st and 2nd-year students to be given a vacation.
“Keep this in mind while gathering information. Do not frighten the villagers.”
Saying things like, “We’re here because a demon has appeared,” or, “This is actually a secret mission,” was strictly forbidden.
If the villagers panicked, they might leave the village en masse, and anyone who had made a contract with the demon could slip away in the chaos.
There was another reason we needed to keep the demon hunt a secret.
“The demon might use those fleeing as sacrifices. Whatever happens, this secret must not be revealed.”
In short, we needed to act like students enjoying a well-earned vacation.
The instructors moved among us, handing out items.
They placed silver coins into our hands. Three of them, glinting beautifully in the faint morning light.
“Use them freely. If you spend more, that’s fine too.”
The reason why the local lord and villagers had welcomed a group of students despite the grim atmosphere of this impoverished and failing land…
It was all because of money.
After the iron mine was depleted, Trash Village had no significant source of income. They were desperate for anything that could bring in cash.
“Anyone who has extra money should spend a little more. Now, I’ll share the additional information we’ve gathered.”
The children straightened their postures.
It wasn’t just because of the new information; it was also because Caron’s demeanor had shifted.
“One more person has gone missing. An adult woman, 18 years old, named Dolores.”
The children began murmuring amongst themselves.
The fact that the number of missing people had increased meant…
“That’s right. This increases the likelihood that someone here has made a contract with a demon.”
A sacrifice offered to obtain a demon’s power.
Sacrifices and humans were inseparable in such matters.
After all, humans provided the highest level of efficiency compared to any other living creature.
“And since it’s an abduction rather than a murder, that much is clear.”
“Exactly. Offering a live sacrifice yields greater power.”
“Four confirmed cases… no, is it five now? This isn’t good.”
The trouble with those who make contracts with demons isn’t just that the demon’s power grows stronger.
The contractor themselves also becomes significantly more powerful.
And if the demon’s infernal magic added to their arsenal proved to be troublesome, even a low-ranking demon could wield power on par with a mid-ranking demon, sometimes even greater.
“You’ve faced high-ranking demons before. You wouldn’t tremble in fear over a mere low-ranking demon, would you?”
Even Caron’s words weren’t enough to completely dispel the fear gripping the children.
The murmuring continued among them.
It was then that something glimmered in the fog behind Caron.
A pair of blue eyes shone brightly through the mist.
“Tch, how annoying. Are you seriously this scared of some low-ranking demon?”
It was Lowell, the Mad Lion of the North.
She emerged through the fog, a grin playing on her lips as she continued speaking.
“Just go fight the demon and die. Anyone who makes a fuss or tries to run? I’ll kill them myself.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t that be more painful? I mean, I’ve never been a sacrifice myself, but… I’ll just kill you as cruelly as possible. That should be fine, right?”
After that, no one spoke a word until they arrived at the village.
Probably because they’d all come to the same conclusion: dying in a fight with the demon would be the better option.
–TL Notes–
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