Winter
Joseph let out a long sigh.
Warm steam billowed from his mouth, dispersing into the air.
Winter had truly begun.
If it were the usual time, the hunter Joseph would have been frantic with activity.
In a village like Bari where most residents worked the fields, they generally spent the winter eating preserved food stockpiled from earlier.
Therefore, before it became too difficult to go outside, they had to prepare a lot of preserved food.
Preserved food made from meat was what everyone wanted, and naturally, it was the time when the village's hunters, Joseph, became busy.
But Joseph's daily routine hadn't changed much from before. No, rather, it had become even more relaxed.
While the villagers were busy making preserved food, he leisurely tossed dried meat into the stew and waited for it to boil.
This was thanks to the village chief's goodwill.
For a while, Joseph hadn't gone hunting, and the village chief had shared the preserved food with him.
The amount was quite a lot.
Thanks to that, Joseph could manage with just going out to the forest occasionally.
The village chief's consideration was obvious.
And this was felt by everyone in the village, not just Joseph.
The village chief seemed uneasy that Joseph might one day threaten Hayra or his own power.
But the village chief couldn't just reject Joseph outright.
After all, prestige was important in any era.
It seemed he thought it would be better to incorporate Joseph instead.
Because of this, there were those who harbored grudges against Joseph and muttered under their breath.
Of course, to Joseph, who had crawled from the bottom, those mutterings sounded like empty words.
What's the point.
Joseph didn't show any sign of opposing the situation.
There was no need to make a choice that was disadvantageous to him.
Think what you want.
More importantly, Joseph didn't care if others suppressed him or disliked him.
After all, Joseph didn't feel any attachment to the village or its residents.
He had been ignored and exploited since childhood; how could there be such feelings?
Rather, his brazen attitude now was ridiculous.
Joseph had decided to quietly build up his strength this time and leave the village when the time came.
Since they were blatantly showing their intent to use him, Joseph could easily take the advantage without hesitation.
Moreover...
Joseph stared at the boiling stew and scanned the house.
The wooden pillars that had absorbed moisture for a long time and reeked of mold.
The walls patched crudely with straw and mud, full of holes.
The old roof leaking rotten straw.
The stuffy air inside the house without windows, carrying a musty smell.
Is this even a person's house...?
In truth, Joseph didn't feel a great sense of satisfaction that his life had improved.
Of course, it was true that it had become more relaxed than before.
But that was only from the villagers' perspective.
Joseph was a modern person.
In summer, he cooled off with air conditioning, in winter turned on city gas heating, prioritizing concerns about lunch menus over starving to death.
His past life hadn't been particularly comfortable either, but this was even worse.
He wasn't struggling in a house filled with rot.
If I do well here, I'll end up as the village chief's servant.
He wasn't satisfied. He couldn't be satisfied.
What Joseph wanted was not a life of groveling in a precarious environment.
Joseph tossed the smelly dried meat into his mouth and rolled up his sleeves.
The scar where a shield fragment had embedded was clearly visible.
The old house falling apart and the hard-to-eat preserved food.
Plus the danger of dying at any moment.
This isn't a human life.
What Joseph envisioned as a human life.
Worries about food, clothing, and shelter gone.
Tasty food eaten.
Meetings with people.
Finding joy in activities.
Such rewarding things existed.
That's why there was no future in Bari Village.
A place where even today's peace couldn't guarantee tomorrow's life.
If Joseph had an accident during a beast hunt, he wouldn't be treated this well by the village chief.
I'm definitely leaving.
Joseph chewed the smelly meat forcefully.
* * *
Of course, Joseph didn't plan to immediately run away from the village.
From the last time fighting the beast, he had realized.
The dangers outside the village exceeded Joseph's expectations.
Without magic, Joseph would just be a simple village resident.
If he left the village, he'd either become food for beasts or be caught by thieves and have his throat slit.
To leave the village without worry, Joseph needed to become even stronger than now.
Joseph spent most of the day sitting at home practicing magic.
Sitting on the bed, meditating, slowly accumulating external mana inside.
Spending time like that, occasionally going hunting, bringing back meat, and visiting the village chief's house.
"Again, huh."
"Yeah."
Joseph visited twice a week.
He visited the village chief's house to learn letters from Hayra.
To read the magic book, one had to first learn letters, so the village chief assigned Hayra as the teacher.
Hayra seemed displeased that he had to teach Joseph.
But no matter how much the village chief's son, he couldn't disobey the chief's orders.
Of course, from Joseph's perspective, it wasn't pleasant either.
Since the beast hunt, Hayra had become even more overtly hostile to Joseph.
"Dumb. Wrong."
"If you can't do this much, you should give up, right?"
"You'd learn better from Derek who's dead."
He thought it was much better than when he was beaten as a child, but on the other hand, Hayra setting his sights so high was ridiculous.
Didn't the village chief tell him to get along?
The village chief's instruction to educate Hayra wasn't only for Joseph.
There was probably an intention to keep Hayra close to Joseph this time.
"Is it that serious?"
"Is that a question?"
But Hayra was getting sharper with Joseph day by day.
What... Once I learn all the letters, there won't be anything to see.
Though a bit ridiculous in his childish attitude, he decided not to mind it.
If Joseph were a normal resident, their relationship might have been different from now.
But Joseph knew best that that wouldn't happen.
Joseph spent time like that.
The heavy snow began to fall in earnest, and the period when nights were too cold to go out arrived.
Joseph, who had learned some letters, entered the exploration of the magic book in earnest.
As the village chief said, it wasn't a grand magic book.
Most of it was about the magic theories and philosophies that the author thought.
Why is there so much self-promotion?
The only usable content was about mana resonance and accumulation.
Is this really all?
Then, the very last chapter of the book.
He found a new subject.
"Here it is!"
Fire.
A weak fire-spelling magic.
The most basic and primordial power that mana can invoke.
As basic as it was, it looked like an easy magic.
All it took was converting the mana orb into the power of fire.
With just one book, only one magic to learn.
But contrary to that thought, Joseph's lips curled up to his ears.
It was no longer just shooting out mana orbs, but he could now use real magic.
Especially in times like now, winter, there were many uses for this magic.
"Fire."
He took out the orb and chanted the spell, but the orb spat out a bit of heat and then dispersed into the air.
"It doesn't come easy."
A bit disappointed, but it was fine.
He hadn't expected it to be that easy.
Joseph stared at the leaping flames and sat down on the floor to start meditating again.
It seemed he needed more practice to master it.
* * *
"No thoughts on marriage?"
Hayra suddenly asked a question. It was a shocking question.
"...?"
Joseph looked up at Hayra, whose expression was wrinkled as if bitten by a bug.
"...Suddenly?"
"...Father is curious. Since you've grown up, shouldn't you start thinking about marriage?"
It seemed like an order from the village chief.
Based on the answer, the village chief would probably arrange a marriage with someone in the village.
In fact, after winter ended, Hayra was scheduled to marry a village maiden.
Joseph suppressed a laugh and shook his head.
As a person, he didn't have no dream of a partner.
But that could only be thought after guaranteeing a human life.
In an environment where death could come at any moment, what marriage?
"No thoughts."
"What? Why?"
"I'm a hunter. If something like last time happens, I'll be dragged away for sure. Who knows when I'll die."
"..."
Joseph made up a suitable reason and answered.
Hayra's expression showed he didn't understand Joseph's words.
Of course.
Hayra was a human born and raised in Bari Village.
A resident who had always lived in danger, unlike Joseph who was a modern person, their values were different.
So, it would be hard for Hayra to understand Joseph's words about living alone.
Hayra shook his head and continued the education.
Since then, he hadn't asked Joseph anything.
"This was wrong earlier. You can't remember because you're not enough?"
This bastard...
Half of winter had passed, and another year was ending.
The villagers were waiting for the cold winds to subside.
But it seemed they hadn't yet safely passed the winter.
"Someone was near the village."
One resident said he met an unknown person while hunting in the mountains.
The village chief immediately gathered the village men.
Of course, Joseph was included.
"Who was it?"
"I didn't see the face because I saw him from afar. But it was definitely a person."
"Hmm... Okay."
The village chief nodded and scratched his eyebrows.
Lucky. If he was closer, he would have died.
What?
The village chief ignored the resident's bewildered words and scanned the gathered people.
"That's a thief."
"A thief?"
Someone's stupid question, the village chief clicked his tongue.
"In this harsh winter, what does it mean for a useless guy to wander around another village's vicinity."
After the village chief's words, everyone fell silent.
Even without learning much, they could roughly imagine.
A fugitive who ran away from people.
A neighbor village resident who fled due to famine.
A thief gang that roamed small villages.
The residents swallowed saliva with their own imaginations in mind.
"It doesn't matter who that guy is. If left alone, no matter what, armed men will come to the village."
After the village chief's words, the atmosphere turned ominous instantly.
It had been only one season since the black beast incident.
But this time, it was thieves.
"Eh, what do we do then?"
"We need to prepare."
"Quiet, quiet!"
When people were buzzing, the village chief slammed his staff on the floor.
"Don't make noise. Things like this happen often as you live."
Some elderly men nodded.
Most were elderly like the village chief.
"Joseph."
The village chief called Joseph.
Then, the villagers' gazes focused on Joseph sitting in the corner.
It was a clearly different reaction from before.