The Ruined Village
Joseph countered, “A lair of demonic beasts…?”
Auger nodded.
After clearing the bandits in Maiba Village, I immediately headed to Malešov with my private soldiers.
Auger had started the bandit extermination before Joseph.
Thanks to that, they could finish before the weather turned cold.
According to the plan, he should have been waiting for Joseph in Malešov.
“After that, we made it all the way south without any major issues…”
However, what he found near the hills around Malešov was nothing but a deserted ruin.
“Abandoned, you say?”
“Yes.”
Every house, field, well, and livestock pen in sight was in ruins.
“……”
Joseph couldn’t grasp it.
Malešov was a village at the southern tip of Valois territory. It wasn’t a city, but not small either.
Thanks to the nearby quarry, there were frequent visits from external people like workers or merchants.
At least, it was clearly larger than Kutna Village, which Joseph had passed by.
At the very least, it wasn’t a scale that a few bandits or demonic beasts could handle.
“Was it an invasion from another territory?”
Most of the military in Valois territory was currently at the northern frontlines.
Naturally, the southern security would be weakened, and there was plenty of room for opportunists.
But Auger shook his head.
“I didn’t hear any such news… It felt a bit different.”
The village’s state was as if a war had happened.
But Malešov was drastically different from a place that had actually been at war.
“Corpses weren’t visible.”
War is a fight between humans.
If someone swings a sword, someone else must die.
If a village becomes a ruin, corpses should have appeared.
At least, there should be some trace of bodies being buried somewhere.
But in Malešov, there were no human shadows or such traces.
“The smell of blood was there, but no corpses. It didn’t seem like a normal incident.”
After searching the area around Malešov, Auger couldn’t move for a while.
Then he made a judgment.
What happened here was beyond his ability to solve alone.
Instead, he hid around the area.
Even if he couldn’t solve the village’s problem, he wanted to find out the cause.
He took two private soldiers and hid in a place near the village, surrounded by thickets.
And after a while, he heard the sound of demonic beasts.
“You heard the sound of demonic beasts?”
“A group of kobolds.”
‘Kobolds?’
Joseph’s expression showed his confusion.
He hadn’t faced kobolds directly yet.
But he had heard about them while staying in the castle.
“Kobolds… I don’t think they could do anything to a whole village.”
Kobolds are often low-level demonic beasts found in forests, wolf-like creatures that walk on two legs.
They have enough intelligence to speak, though clumsily like goblins, but they aren’t very smart.
More importantly, they aren’t that strong.
A couple of adult men could probably fight against one kobold.
They weren’t particularly terrifying for demonic beasts.
Auger nodded in understanding.
“Originally, I wouldn’t have thought that a few kobolds could do anything to a village either. But these kobolds were different from normal ones.”
The kobolds that appeared in the village were abnormal.
Their eyes were all bloodshot, and foam was dripping from their mouths.
“They attacked whatever they saw, and even fought among themselves. I don’t know if it suits a demonic beast, but they seemed like they had gone mad.”
The kobolds that gathered in the village center and growled soon started killing each other, and that continued until only one remained.
“The last remaining one… started eating the corpses of the others.”
Joseph’s brows furrowed at that.
He could guess why there were no corpses in the village.
‘They attacked humans, killed them, and then ate the bodies.’
After that, when there were no more humans, they fought among themselves.
And at the same time, a thought crossed Joseph’s mind.
‘Demonic beasts afflicted with madness.’
Because they were mad, they didn’t fear death.
They were different from humans who value their own lives.
Yet, the mad demonic beasts were forming groups.
Of course, they fought among themselves later.
It was an incomplete sentence, but since Auger actually saw it…
“……Did they raid Malešov?”
Auger let out a small sigh, then took something out of his pocket.
“Do you remember this?”
Joseph’s eyes widened at the object in his hand.
‘What is this…?’
It was roughly carved from wood, but it had a round shape with a hole in the center that something should be inserted into, and unknown characters inscribed on the rim.
It was very similar to the old pendant he had found in the northern bear’s lair.
“The soldier found it abandoned in one corner of the village.”
The old pendant found in the northern beast lair.
And this somewhat clumsy pendant found in Malešov.
“I may not know much about magic, but no matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem like coincidence.”
After confirming that, Auger immediately turned the carriage’s head north.
This was a problem he couldn’t solve alone, so he was informing Viscount Folmers and Joseph who was coming from the south.
“……”
Joseph couldn’t continue after hearing Auger’s story.
When he found the pendant in the bear’s lair in the past, he thought something was off, but since it wasn’t his problem, he didn’t pay much attention.
But to suddenly have this appear here.
“……I should send a messenger to Viscount Folmers.”
At Joseph’s words, Auger sighed.
* * *
After the conversation with Auger, Joseph returned to the carriage and fell into thought.
‘Should I participate in this extermination?’
The old pendant found in the bear’s lair.
And the clumsy pendant found in Malešov.
These seemed like artifacts that could drive demonic beasts mad or lure them.
But two of these artifacts had been found in Valois territory.
What did this mean?
‘There seems to be some intention behind it.’
Even if I don’t know well, it’s unlikely that such items are found twice in one region by coincidence.
If it’s not coincidence, then someone intentionally planted them.
Then, the culprit…
‘Count Poner…?’
Another noble currently at war with Count Valois in the north.
If he orchestrated this…
‘If that’s the case, it could become a bit troublesome.’
If this is related to territorial war, participating in this extermination would be risky.
If Joseph solves the Malešov problem, he would be directly interfering with Count Poner.
Even if he had no such intention, it would likely be perceived that way.
The nuance was different between simply exterminating bandits or demonic beasts that happened to be passing by and directly removing the artifact he planted.
‘If I’m not careful, I might be seen as stepping into the war.’
If I just say I exterminated a demonic beast that harmed humans…
Joseph chuckled and shook his head.
There was no right or wrong in this world. He had already realized that.
They all just moved for their own interests, whether individuals or groups.
The effort he had made not to get entangled with war could turn to bubbles in an instant.
Of course, Joseph had already exterminated the northern beasts.
But in his own view, the feeling was clearly different once and twice.
If he joins this time too, he would clearly be at odds with Count Poner, whose face he had never seen.
“Troublesome…”
Nevertheless, Joseph couldn’t easily conclude to leave.
The artifact Auger showed a moment ago.
Precisely, it was because of that pendant-shaped artifact.
‘It has a high probability of being related to the mana recovery artifact.’
When he first obtained the gem after killing the ogre.
The pouch that wrapped the artifact gem.
The characters written on that pouch were the same as those on the pendant.
The pouch that wrapped the mana recovery artifact.
The pendant found in the northern beast lair.
And the pendant made of wood similar to this one.
He could tell there was some connection among these three.
‘If I dig into this, I might find a way to fix the gem.’
Since the artifact was broken, he couldn’t cast infinite magic like when fighting the bear.
After Malešov’s matter is settled, the soldiers will return to the castle.
He couldn’t fully trust the two private soldiers yet.
Joseph needed power to protect himself.
And since the clue to obtain that power was right in front of him, it was hard to let go easily.
‘……It’s better to confirm directly and decide.’
After some thought, Joseph made that conclusion.
Currently, Joseph only had fragmentary information.
It would be fine to judge when a clearer picture is drawn.
‘If it becomes clearly dangerous later, I’ll back off.’
* * *
A wide forest a bit further south from Malešov.
And in a place there where trees were dense and no sunlight reached.
“Which bastard planted the artifact…!”
The man clicked his tongue with dissatisfaction and then unfolded a map.
It was an old parchment map clumsily drawn with knife marks.
“Where shall we look…”
He shook his fingers nervously while checking the nearby terrain.
Soon, he discovered a small hill north of Malešov.
It was not far from the place where the pendant disappeared.
“Here, here?”
As the man checked the map, the kobold who had been reporting to him opened his mouth in his characteristic clumsy way.
“Humans… none.”
At that, the man’s gaze turned to the kobold.
“N-no, there weren’t any. What are you saying?”
The man glared at the kobold with angry eyes.
The kobold started trembling.
“You, you bastard.”
He hadn’t even been able to perform the simple command to patrol the village, and he had eaten his own kind on his own.
It was impossible not to get irritated.
The man looked down at the kobold for a moment, then turned his gaze behind him.
There, an ogre with its eyes half-open stood drooling.
“Kill, kill it.”
At the man’s words, the ogre began to move.
The kobold shrank back as if about to collapse from trembling.
But even so, it didn’t try to run away.
No, it couldn’t run.
Even in the face of the approaching fear of death, its legs didn’t move.
Something was blocking its instinct to flee immediately.
The only thing it could do was tremble like a frightened beast.
Soon, the ogre’s arm grabbed the kobold’s head.
“Kyaa! Kyaa─!”
With the strong grip, the kobold let out a scream.
Crack─
Unable to withstand the ogre’s grip, the kobold’s head began to burst.
“Kyaaak─!”
In terrible pain, the kobold screamed madly.
“……”
And soon, the sound stopped.
After finishing the command, the ogre picked up the kobold’s corpse and turned to the man.
“Eat, you can eat it. It’s yours.”
At that, the ogre brought the kobold’s corpse to its mouth and started chewing from the head.
The man watched the scene for a moment, then checked the map again.
“It, it was discovered faster than I thought. Should I prepare a bit faster? Or…”
No one was there to answer, but he kept muttering to himself.