The Truth of the Rumors
Marvin already knew about Joseph.
The mage who had supposedly slain the northern demonic beast that Zalier had failed to subdue. The rumor had spread well beyond the castle walls; it had reached every corner of the territory. And Marvin, with his connections at the castle, had naturally heard every word of it.
But Marvin dismissed it as exaggeration. He had reason to. He'd seen a mage before.
A monster? Please.
The man had gone around with a pair of half-baked mercenaries in his employ. He'd visited Marvin's village once, dripping with vanity, expensive-looking trinkets hanging off him from head to toe. Then, in the dead of night, the villagers had seized him and cut his throat. Even as they dragged him out, he hadn't so much as attempted a spell — he'd just flailed in terror until he died.
Strip away the shell, and that was all a mage's reputation amounted to.
Even killing a single person took everything you had — every muscle straining as you drove a club into them. And this man had supposedly taken down a demonic beast several times the size of a human, all by himself?
Like hell that's possible!
Rumors always got inflated, and this one was no different. He'd probably killed it, sure. But the beast wouldn't have been as massive as the stories claimed, and the mage would have thrown soldiers at it first, barely finishing the job himself. Besides, that demonic beast had already survived multiple subjugation attempts. It would have been exhausted by then.
Mages were a breed with their eyes glued to their own reflection. He'd have padded his legend — a petty little bid to inflate his prestige.
That was how Marvin saw it.
Without direct harm, people grow numb to danger. Even if the house across the street is a sea of flames, you vaguely assume yours will be fine. Until the fire actually touches you, you don't move — even when it's spreading right to your doorstep.
Marvin was like that. So were the bandits he'd brought with him.
"You talk like that because you don't know what Combat Mages actually do."
Thenic, on the other hand, looked uneasy. He was a cautious man, and he'd heard plenty.
Combat Mages. There were rumors they could burst your skull just by meeting your eyes. And the mages who took the field in territorial wars were said to summon rains of fire from the sky.
"But you've never actually seen one yourself, boss. I have."
That shut Thenic up. It was true — he'd only heard the rumors. He'd never seen one himself. And with this many people acting like it was nothing, he was starting to wonder if he was the one in the wrong.
"We're in too deep to back out now, aren't we? Just grit your teeth and let's do this."
Thenic clicked his tongue at Marvin's words. If he refused here, this bastard would come at him immediately. Even if he killed Marvin, surviving and escaping from among twenty men was a long shot.
"And if we pull it off, I'll throw a little extra onto your cut."
Marvin grinned, rubbing his swollen face. There was a reason he'd taken a beating just to talk Thenic around.
Thenic was essential for this attack on the mage.
Marvin thought Thenic was a coward, but he couldn't deny the man's skill in a fight. If Thenic drew his sword here, he'd take at least three or four heads before he went down. And Marvin's would be among them.
On top of that, Thenic had been a bandit for a long time. He knew things. Even if the rumors were inflated, they were still talking about killing a mage. They needed someone seasoned enough to make snap decisions if something unexpected happened.
Thenic was the man for that.
Marvin knew he didn't have that kind of experience himself.
"So what's the plan?"
Thenic asked, sounding resigned. In effect, he was done refusing.
Marvin nodded and pointed at the sky. It was still raining.
"They say the bastard's a fire mage."
"So we hit him before the rain lets up."
"That's right."
What made a mage terrifying wasn't anything else. It was the attacks that ignored the laws of nature and came flying out of nowhere. Of course, they needed preparation before they could cast. That was why mages always traveled with soldiers.
Their target was traveling with soldiers too.
"Right now, he won't even be able to cast a proper spell."
He was a fire mage. It was raining. His escort was small. Every condition had lined up as if by miracle.
"We move once it's dark enough."
They believed the sky itself was on their side.
Even with the rain pouring down, the people of Kutna were pushing their range of activity farther and farther out.
They were short on food. They meant to find whatever edible greens they could. And now that the village felt safe, they were all the more willing to try.
That day, three village women left the settlement. Not far from home, they were lucky enough to find a patch of nettles. And along with the nettles, they found someone watching the village from a distance.
They knew at once. The bandits who had vanished from the outskirts at some point — that was clearly one of them.
The man's gaze was fixed on the village, so he fortunately hadn't noticed them. The women crouched in the grass and waited for him to leave. But no matter how much time passed, the human shadow showed no sign of disappearing. Far from vanishing, it kept growing.
Two. Five. Eight. Before long, more than ten shadows had gathered.
Anyone could tell they were about to storm the village.
"What do we do…?"
One of the crouched women muttered. She had starving children at home. If they let these men go, her family would be slaughtered — that much was obvious.
When she tried to move, unable to hold herself back, the others grabbed her and clung. Among them was a woman who, like her, had children of her own.
If they moved now, it wouldn't be their children who died. It would be all of them.
Maternal love was not a feeling everyone possessed in equal measure.
"Th-the mage is here. The village will be fine."
Someone said that. The mage sent from the castle. The mage who had dealt with the demonic beasts. He would surely protect their children.
But would he? Really?
Her gaze turned toward the shadows on the hill. They were crouched in the darkness just as the women themselves were. Could the mage really beat all of them?
She had never seen him fight.
And in that moment of doubt, a dull thud rang out, and one of the women holding her went limp.
Her eyes found the source. Through the rain pouring down in the darkness, a small-framed figure stood holding a club.
He sniffled once, then brought the club down on the next woman as if it were nothing at all. Her head was crushed in a single blow.
Then he swung the club hard at the one who remained.
"Aaaaaagh!"
A scream tore out of her. But it didn't carry. The rain, louder still, buried it completely.
Refn was the first to sense something was off.
He was checking the wagon for anything unusual with another soldier. Not long ago a villager had hidden in it, so they needed to be thorough. Of course, after watching that man get used as bait for the demonic beast den, nobody came near the wagon anymore — but still, you never knew.
"Hmm?"
They had just finished inspecting the wagon and were about to head back when something caught his eye. Not far from the wagon, a patch of grass that had been growing perfectly fine until yesterday was conspicuously crushed. It was the kind of thing he'd noticed only because it was part of a daily routine.
…Did someone come through here?
Refn checked the surroundings, wondering if another villager had snuck into the wagon. But any other footprints had already been washed away by the rain.
After a moment's thought, he reported it to Joseph immediately. He didn't know whether a villager had actually hidden there. But it seemed like a good opportunity to tell the villagers once more not to approach the wagon — and that would be far more effective coming from Joseph than from him.
That was all he'd been thinking.
Joseph's expression, upon hearing this, was odd. The suggestion that another villager might have been hiding near the wagon felt… off.
Right now, the people of this village both respected and feared him. And it wasn't a time when they couldn't find food because of demonic beasts — Joseph had already dealt with those. Moreover, the one who'd tried to steal from him had received a severe punishment as bait. Everyone had said it was lucky the man hadn't been executed.
And there's another villager who'd try that?
Did that make any sense? Something about the situation felt strangely wrong.
"Let's go take a look."
He led Refn out to check. Just as Refn had said, one side of the grass had been flattened by something other than weather.
Maybe it just got knocked down by the rain.
But he found it hard to simply walk past the traces. A memory had flashed through Joseph's mind.
The bandits who'd tried to raid Bari Village. The first humans Joseph had ever fought with his life on the line. He remembered the footprints they'd left in the snow.
The bandits of this world were a kind of specialist. Before hitting a place, they thoroughly scouted whether it was worth attacking. The ones at Bari Village had watched the residents from the outskirts before turning back.
Suddenly he remembered the bandits who'd seen him outside this village and vanished.
If they'd come back…?
It could just be me overthinking it.
Joseph turned his head and checked the wagon. The traces weren't that far from it.
But if they really came this close to look, that's genuinely dangerous.
It would mean the bandits had come all the way into the village to spy. They'd know just about everything about the village's situation. It wouldn't be strange if they attacked at any moment.
Of course, the thought that he might just be making a fuss didn't disappear from one corner of his mind. But hadn't he nearly died from surprise attacks several times already? The anxiety that had bloomed from those experiences scraped at his nerves.
I'll take precautions first. If nothing happens, that's fine.
Joseph immediately had the soldiers quietly gather the villagers. They assembled at the village chief's house with bewildered expressions.
"Anyone whose family isn't accounted for?"
When Joseph asked, everyone glanced around. Then one man raised his hand.
"Um… my wife went out to gather greens and hasn't come home yet."
Then more of the same came forward. Seeing that, the villagers vaguely understood the situation.
It was already dark. With the heavy clouds, once the sun went down you couldn't see properly. And there were still people who hadn't come home.
Something had happened.
"Hand out the equipment to the villagers."
At Joseph's words, the soldiers brought out the gear loaded on the wagon — spoils collected from catching bandits along the way. The atmosphere stirred. Anyone could tell it sounded like he was about to throw them into a death trap.
"There may be bandits outside the village. They could hit us at any time."
Even if Joseph was a mage, protecting all of them would be difficult. More than that, he had no obligation to. Protect your own lives. That was the message.
As the villagers picked up leather armor and clubs from among the spoils, Refn came over and asked,
"Are you planning to take the villagers out to hunt them down, sir?"
At best they were local villagers. Taking people with no combat experience out in the dead of night after an unknown number of bandits was suicide. Joseph shook his head. He knew that perfectly well, of course.
They had no advantage in numbers or information. On top of that, it was pouring rain, making it hard to use fire magic aggressively. He wasn't stupid enough to chase after them in those conditions.
Refn looked puzzled. Then why had he given the villagers the spoils?
"They might raid the village tonight."
Why tonight? Because the ones who'd gone to gather greens hadn't come back today.
They're dead.
From the bandits' perspective, they'd want to finish the job before the village noticed the missing residents and went on alert.
"Then what do you intend to do, sir?"
These were the ones who'd vanished for a while, wary of them. Quite cunning. There was probably a sharp one among them. Choosing a rainy day like this was shrewd too.
If I tip them off for no reason, they might go into hiding again.
They might try to ambush Joseph as he left the village. Or they might plunder the village after he was gone. Either way, it was a loss.
"Tell them to put out the fires in their houses like usual, and to do as I say."
And so Joseph intended to lure them into the village entirely.