The Crimson Alert
The status window that had always remained a steady blue suddenly turned red. It was the first time Chloe had ever seen it do so. The sight of it flashing that urgent, bloody crimson made her lose her composure entirely.
“W-what is this?”
It felt like a harbinger of something terrible to come, and the unease settled deep in her bones.
“My lady?”
Anna, who had been organizing combs and accessories, looked up sharply at her lord’s unusual tone. Such incidents had grown rare lately, but she still worried that the lady’s old capriciousness might have returned.
Yet Chloe wasn’t even looking at her. She stared into empty space with a deep frown, as though lost in grim thought. Without turning her head, she spoke in a voice heavy with tension.
“Stop what you’re doing and summon the butler and the treasurer to my office immediately.”
The warm smile Chloe had worn only moments ago had vanished. Something serious must have happened. Anna, who had been with her the entire time, had no idea what could have triggered this sudden change. At least she hadn’t done anything wrong herself. That was a relief.
After a brief moment of flustered panic, Anna quickly set the box she was holding on the dressing table and answered.
“Yes, my lady!”
She bowed and hurried out. The moment the door closed, new text appeared on the crimson status window.
Protect Morta Village from the crisis that has befallen it. Safeguard the lives of its people and prove yourself worthy of being a dignified lord. Success will bring rewards. Failure will result in a drop in affinity, along with the possible deaths of 000 territory residents.
Chloe’s heart plummeted. She pictured the faces of Morta’s villagers.
The people who had rushed to greet her with bright smiles. The children who had beamed as if they owned the world after receiving nothing more than a single winter coat. The villagers who had charged into the flames without even realizing they were breathing in smoke.
“…No.”
The reward didn’t matter. She couldn’t let a single person die. It made no difference whether they were real humans, illusions, or mere game characters. They had only just extinguished the fire along the firebreak yesterday. How could something like this be happening again already?
“This can’t be a coincidence.”
A chill of genuine fear ran through her. She paced the room, biting her nails anxiously.
“Was it that slimy bastard Ray? Or that son of a bitch Patrasche?”
Either was possible, but Ray’s schemes didn’t feel like an immediate threat to the territory. That left Patrasche….
Part of her wanted to order Red Bear to seize the man at once, but first she needed to understand exactly what kind of crisis had struck Morta Village.
Her urgency propelled her out of the room. She raced toward her office. The maids cleaning the hallway bowed respectfully when they saw her, but she had no time to acknowledge them. Besides, although Viscount Patrasche held a lower title, the power and influence he had built with his wealth were formidable.
“Where is Red Bear?”
Chloe burst through the office doors and asked the question in the same breath. The butler and treasurer were already waiting inside.
“He remained in Morta Village with the knights, my lady. Has something happened?”
The knight commander’s usual stoic expression was nowhere to be seen on her face. She looked restless. Almost frightened.
“We’re heading to Morta immediately. Prepare to leave. And send every mercenary still in the castle there right now.”
“All of them? But today is the scheduled logging day…”
“Cancel the logging. Arm them and send them to Morta at once.”
“Yes, my lady!”
Chloe looked every bit as anxious as she had when she had raced to extinguish the flames.
“Commander, I believe you should come see this.”
Red Bear had risen at dawn to inspect the palisade. The urgent, hushed tone of his subordinate immediately set off warning bells. The way the man had lowered his voice so the villagers wouldn’t overhear told him this was no trivial matter.
Builder, walking over from the opposite direction, spotted them and bowed deeply in greeting. He had gone to bed far later than Red Bear and risen even earlier to survey the surroundings. He must have barely slept, yet his expression was remarkably bright.
A man whose sense of responsibility surpassed anyone else’s. The more Red Bear saw of him, the more he trusted him.
Red Bear gave Builder a small nod, then followed his subordinate.
He prayed it was nothing serious, but an inexplicable anxiety weighed on his chest. Today, of all days, the Black Forest felt unnaturally quiet.
The subordinate had other knights tighten security, then led Red Bear directly outside the palisade. Once he confirmed that no villagers were watching, Red Bear stepped beyond the barrier. He didn’t want to sow unnecessary fear when the situation wasn’t yet clear.
But the moment he saw what lay before him, his mind went blank.
Fresh blood the color of ripe cherries had been sprayed around the palisade they had labored through the night to build. At regular intervals, the mangled carcasses of dark animals dropped with wet, heavy thuds. None of them were intact.
As Red Bear stared at the mutilated remains, the subordinate who had quietly reported to him earlier spoke with a grave expression.
“They are the bodies of young Cullens, sir. Someone tore the pups apart and scattered them around the village along with their blood. It seems…”
“It must be connected to whoever set the fire yesterday.”
The subordinate nodded at Red Bear’s conclusion. Red Bear narrowed his eyes and examined the palisade. Fortunately, it showed no signs of breakage or structural damage.
“When did this happen?”
“It appears they waited until the construction ended during the night watch and carried out this atrocity right after.”
Red Bear ground his teeth. There was no doubt that some faction wanted Morta Village to fall. And there was only one man vile enough to harbor such a vicious desire: Viscount Patrasche.
When he had visited Grace Castle last time, he had failed to purchase Morta and left empty-handed. It seemed he had resorted to this instead. To him, Morta Village was nothing more than a tool to expand his own lands—nothing more, nothing less. The safety and lives of the people living here were completely irrelevant to him.
They had to protect this place at all costs. It could not be allowed to fall into his hands. Red Bear steadied his darkening heart and issued commands with calm, icy precision.
“Dig near the firebreak and bury the blood-soaked soil and carcasses deep underground.”
The mothers would follow the scent of their dead young to the ends of the earth. Burning the remains would be ideal, but there was no time. Monsters did not emerge from the Black Forest while the sun was up. But if the creatures in question were Cullens who had lost their pups, the situation changed entirely.
As far as Red Bear knew, Cullens possessed one of the strongest maternal instincts among all monsters. They were the kind of creatures that would tear flesh from their own bodies to feed their offspring.
With their young so brutally dismembered and strewn at the village entrance, the Cullens would surely believe the villagers were responsible. They would attack without cease until every last one of them was dead.
At Red Bear’s order, the subordinate returned inside the palisade and brought out dozens of knights. Red Bear himself strode back through the barrier and headed straight for the village chief’s house.
The chief welcomed the knight commander—who had been laboring day and night for Morta—with open arms.
“Commander! What brings you to our humble… ah, I mean, to our home?”
The chief had almost called his house shabby out of habit before hastily correcting himself. Thanks to the lord’s generosity, the repairs were complete. The chief’s house was no longer shabby in the slightest. In fact, it was now the largest and most spacious building in the entire village—a gift from the lady to honor his hard work.
“There’s no time. From this moment on, you must not allow a single person to step outside.”
“What’s happened?”
The smile vanished from the chief’s face.
“There may be a Cullen attack. Send the fastest young men to every household. Tell them they must not leave their homes until we declare that the situation has been resolved.”
“What? Why would Cullens attack our village? And in broad daylight?”
Even three-year-old children knew that monsters did not move about during the day. But because Red Bear was not the sort of man to speak nonsense, the chief’s voice trembled with fear as he asked the question.
“I’ll explain later. Send the messengers now!”
Red Bear barked at the chief, who still stood there dazed. Startled, the chief ran outside without another word and began gathering the young men.
The Cullens, deep in slumber from the sleeping powder, let out blood-curdling screams the moment they realized every last one of their young had vanished from the cave.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!”
“Kiiiiiiiiik! Kiiiiiiiiik!”
It wasn’t just one or two mothers who had lost their pups. One Cullen frantically sniffed around the cave before suddenly shooting out into the open air.
Flap flap flap!
Flap flap flap!
The Cullens pouring from the cave in broad daylight were so numerous they blackened the sky. Because they practiced communal rearing, they would search for the missing young together regardless of blood relation.
The swarm of black Cullens circled rapidly around the cave. Sunlight gradually stripped the glossy sheen from their wings, yet the creatures showed no sign of discomfort. Then one of them broke formation and shot off at high speed—directly toward Morta Village.