From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 14
From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 14
The subjugation squad headed for the stables behind headquarters and brought out enough horses for everyone deploying. The horses varied in color and size, but all were well trained. They did not toss their heads around and accepted their handlers' touch without resistance.
"You're riding with me."
Demein asked.
"Have you ever ridden a horse?"
"No."
Demein nodded.
"You ride in front. I'll hold the reins from behind. Don't tense up just because you're being jostled. If you feel like you're going to fall, don't try to hold on—roll."
"Got it."
"Keep it in mind. You're strong, so you might think you'll be fine as long as you hold on...... but if the horse gets startled or goes down because of that, the situation gets worse. Just fall and roll."
Demein lifted Berak up and seated him in front, then mounted behind him. Berak's line of sight rose in an instant. The horse's back was harder than he had expected, and it swayed faintly from side to side.
"There. Grab the front of the saddle."
Berak reached out and gripped the leather at the front of the saddle.
"Move out!"
The vice-captain, mounted on the largest horse, shouted. Hoofbeats rang out as all eight horses started off together.
The moment the horse moved, Berak's body reflexively stiffened. It walked a few steps, then quickly picked up speed. The swaying beneath him grew much stronger all at once.
His body could not immediately follow the horse's movement. His center of gravity pitched sharply forward and back, and he bounced in the saddle. His grip tightened on the front of the saddle.
Putting strength into his arms was easy. The problem was that it did no good at all. It was a matter of keeping his balance and matching the rhythm.
Demein's voice came from behind.
"Relax. If you stay stiff like that, your body will keep bouncing. Match the flow of the horse's gait."
Berak tried to relax as instructed, but the movement still felt rough. The jolting changed from step to step. All he could do was move with it and try not to fall.
His view was higher now, but he had no attention to spare for his surroundings. Berak focused entirely on being jostled as little as possible.
He could not tell how long that went on. The horse kept moving at a fast pace, and the jolting did not disappear. But as the same motion repeated, something was changing.
'It feels...... better than before.'
It was still uncomfortable, but...... he was no longer being completely thrown around like at the start.
「Riding + 1」
'I like this kind of thing.'
The strength in the hand gripping the front of the saddle loosened slightly without Berak realizing it.
"We stop here!"
At the vice-captain's words, the tension drained out of Berak all at once. He had been tense the entire time he was riding.
Lunch was short. They made do with dried meat and were back on the horses right away. Everyone moved as if that were only natural.
A proper rest only came once the sun had fully set. They settled in a forest clearing and lit a fire. Berak helped pitch the tents, and for dinner, properly cooked food was prepared over the fire. His Riding had gone up a few more times over the course of the day on horseback. But it was exhausting work in equal measure. Berak ate dinner and fell asleep quickly.
The next morning. When Berak mounted again, his body did not bounce the way it had the day before.
"......Did he adapt in a single day? Really, in one day?"
As a bonus, Demein could only tilt his head in disbelief.
* * *
As they continued moving, at some point the road gradually narrowed. It was a place where the horses had trouble picking up speed, so they naturally slowed to a walk.
Berak looked down at the ground. He had traveled relatively often lately. Because of that, he was now beginning to distinguish roads a little. This was a road leading to a village. If people did not travel it, it should quickly be swallowed by grass and stones, but that had not happened.
One of the mercenaries brought his horse alongside the vice-captain and spoke.
"There's been little traffic. It looks like no one has come or gone for a day—no, two days."
"What makes you say that?"
"You can tell people stopped passing through. The old footprints have hardened, and there aren't any fresh ones. I also saw grass starting to stand back up."
Berak's gaze shifted to the ground the man indicated. Even looking at the same road, the difference in the information each person drew from it was stark.
'I should learn that.'
Berak compared the traces the mercenary pointed out against the familiar scenery and filed them away in his mind. Then he turned his gaze forward again as if nothing had happened.
"A day or two."
The vice-captain repeated it briefly, then raised his head.
"If it's a small village, people not coming and going for a few days is natural. But if it was a raid, there's also the possibility they took everyone."
Listening to the vice-captain, Berak realized they had already reached the area where Blood Snake operated.
When they entered the village, the first thing Berak noticed was a field. Soil that had been tilled and then abandoned before the early-autumn harvest had hardened in place.
Berak knew farm work. Seeing no one at all in broad daylight during the busiest season felt strange.
Demein seemed to feel something similar, because he muttered from behind.
"So it really is an abduction......."
Just then, a gust of wind passed. Mixed among the smells of earth and dry grass was something else. It was not a pleasant smell. Like rusted iron.......
"...Blood."
As Demein spoke, the vice-captain's shout came from ahead.
"Move a little faster!"
The deeper they went, the stronger the smell became. It was almost hard to endure. The ears of the horse they were riding flattened back, and its breathing grew rough. Demein, holding the reins, clicked his tongue quietly.
And so, they entered the village proper.
He had expected it from the smell, but...... there was too much blood.
On the road, in front of doors, beside fences.
People soaked in blood lay scattered everywhere.
The stains spreading beneath the bodies connected to one another, leaving dark traces along the village road.
Some faces were frozen with their eyes open, and some had stopped with their mouths agape.
Some...... no longer even maintained a proper human shape. They had been split and shattered too many times.
Suddenly, a large hand covered his eyes.
"Move your hand."
"This is not a sight for a child like you."
"Demein. I'm taking a test right now."
Berak's voice was low but clear. The hand hesitated for a moment, then slowly withdrew.
His vision opened again. Berak steadied his breathing once, then looked around again.
He was not comfortable. He did not want to see it if he could help it. But he did not look away.
"Dismount and check for survivors! They may have left remnants behind, so move in pairs!"
At the vice-captain's order, the mercenaries dismounted and spread out. Berak did not delay either. The moment he dismounted and set foot on the ground, he moved before Demein.
He started with a house whose door was open. He focused only on finding people. Breathing, movement—any sign of life at all.
The inside of the house was a mess. He swept his gaze quickly over overturned bowls and broken furniture.
"Is anyone there?"
He called out. Even knowing no answer would come, he repeated it like a procedure he had to carry out.
The next house, and the next.
Berak did not stop. Then, at some point, his gaze lingered.
It was a child. A boy of about ten.
Kellum suddenly came to mind. A pickpocket around his own age.
And this boy's life had stopped here.
The difference between them and Berak was one thing.
Whether they had power or not.
The powerless are used. And in the end, everything is taken from them.
And he himself had nearly had everything taken from him not long ago.
'I don't like it.'
Berak turned his eyes back to the boy. He looked straight at the wide-open gaze without avoiding it.
After hesitating a moment, he lowered his body. The motion of reaching out was careful. Quietly, he covered the lying boy's eyes with his palm.
Slowly.
Only after pressing once more, as if to make sure, did he withdraw his hand.
Pat.
This time without a word, Demein placed a hand on his shoulder.
* * *
The search turned up no survivors. Nor were there any remnants left behind who had done this to the village. The conclusion was that they had raided the village and left a day or two earlier.
There was no time, so they could not bury the bodies. At the vice-captain's instruction, they only moved the corpses strewn in the middle of the road to one side.
Then they gathered again in a clearing on the village outskirts.
"It was them, as expected."
The vice-captain was handed something. It was a scrap of cloth with dried bloodstains.
On the dark red background, a serpent was clearly embroidered.
A design of a body coiled in a circle with fangs bared. Crude, but a shape hard to forget once seen.
"Blood Snake. Their mark."
"Couldn't they be abandoning their base and fleeing? It looks like they wiped out the village along the way to eliminate witnesses."
At someone's words, the vice-captain shook his head.
"This village is actually above their base. It doesn't fit a route moving south. Above all, if they were fleeing, there's no reason to risk this much commotion. Speed and concealment would matter. They must have gone back."
"Then...... there'd be no reason to go this far. This is madness. It wasn't just looting—they slaughtered an entire village."
"They're mad. Of course they did something insane."
The vice-captain's words were not exactly a joke. No one laughed.
"There was something strange among the bodies."
Another mercenary spoke up.
"I examined the traces...... they aren't cuts. It's not a line where a blade passed—it's closer to marks of something being torn away. As if it were ripped open by hands rather than a weapon."
"You mean they tore people apart with brute strength?"
The vice-captain's gaze rested on Berak for just an instant, then fell away.
"It seems they've brought in someone with monstrous strength. After that, the whole lot of them apparently lost all restraint and started rampaging."
This time Demein asked.
"The situation has changed. Do we report to the client and wait?"
The vice-captain thought for a moment, then nodded.
"We report. But there's no waiting."
He shifted his gaze beyond the village, toward where the forest continued.
"They've become unpredictable now. Even if they went back to their base...... we don't know how long they'll stay. We should finish this while we can. One added strong fighter is within the assumed range."
The vice-captain uncrossed his arms and concluded.
"We'll rest only briefly and move right away."
Then he gestured to Berak.
"You, follow me."
Berak was briefly puzzled, but he moved without a word. The vice-captain walked silently to a spot where the other mercenaries' voices could not reach. Then he stopped.
"I didn't expect anything like this."
He tossed the remark out casually.
"If it's too much, say so. Can you keep going?"
"Yes."
There was not an instant of hesitation in Berak's answer.
It was a brutal sight for a boy to see, yet his eyes were gleaming.
His eyes held resolve.
The vice-captain looked down at Berak for a long moment. Then he nodded briefly.
"......It seems your strength isn't only in your arms."
With those words, the vice-captain clapped Berak on the shoulder and turned away. The rough touch conveyed the taciturn mercenary's trust more clearly than words.
* * *
As the sun dipped behind the mountain, they halted the horses.
A low stone wall was visible through the trees. It was an abandoned small fortress, a mix of collapsed sections and reinforced ones. Light was leaking out in a few places.
"There."
The vice-captain said curtly.
The mercenaries dismounted and checked their equipment. They kept the noise to a minimum.
"We strike once it's fully dark."
The vice-captain continued, still looking at the fortress.
"The stone wall is low enough to get over without a ladder. It won't be easy, though...... and sending everyone over the wall is a bad idea. We came with enough strength to sweep them all away even if we push straight through the front."
A few heads nodded.
"However."
The vice-captain paused and scanned the lights inside the fortress again.
"They've brought in an unexpectedly strong fighter. That gives us an unknown factor. If we break through the front as planned, they'll respond before we even reach the entrance—and we don't know what that fighter can do."
He drew a breath and continued.
"So I'll set one infiltration team. The objective is to divert the attention of the guards inside the fort. To draw their eyes until we safely reach the entrance."
A brief silence followed.
Several mercenaries looked up at the wall, gauging the distance and height.
Then Berak stepped forward.
"I'll go."
At the sudden proposal, all eyes turned to him. The vice-captain looked at Berak as well.
"Why?"
A reason...... He probably was not asking about motivation.
"I'm the smallest, so the chance of being spotted is lowest. And even if the enemy does spot me, being a child could make them let their guard down."
At that answer, the vice-captain thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Good. Then the other one......."
"I'll go alone."
He had never coordinated with the others.
If anything, having to worry about someone else might make stealth harder.
"If you're trying to claim the credit for yourself."
"No. It's just easier for me to move alone."
The vice-captain looked at Berak for a moment without a word.
"Good. I'll leave it to you. We'll set out a little later. You don't need to stay and fight—just cause enough confusion. If you can't hold out until we arrive, run."
"Yes."
Berak waited for the sun to fully set, watching the fortress.
He had stepped forward because he thought the vice-captain was right. If he could disrupt the enemy before the frontal clash, they could ultimately inflict greater damage.
The Berak of old would not have volunteered to take such a risk even if he understood that calculation.
It would have been enough to prove his skills without overdoing it, within the bounds of the test he had been given.
Throwing himself into danger for no reason was not his way.
But his mind had changed.
The chill of the dead boy still seemed to linger in his hand.
And he wanted to give something back to those who had done that.
At last, when full darkness settled around them, the vice-captain whispered.
"Go. We'll follow soon."
Berak nodded and walked out. Soon his body melted into the darkness.