Unease (4)
Several days had passed. The Church’s merchant caravan had already chosen a plot of land and begun clearing it for construction. They couldn’t stay indefinitely, though, so they left only a handful of people behind and returned home. They had news to deliver, after all—going back was the right call.
Still, it was a shame. If the barbarians had come while the full company was still here, we could have turned them back without a single casualty… That was the regret I couldn’t quite shake.
“Please don’t worry so much, Saintess. The six we left behind are all Holy Knights.”
My concern must have shown on my face, because the man in charge made a point of telling me they were leaving people behind. He’d explained it to my father as a way to prepare the site and get to know the villagers, or something along those lines.
Thanks to that, our fighting strength had jumped considerably. Priest Daniel stepped up to handle their management. Honestly, I’d been a little worried about how well he’d do…
“There’s no need to worry. For all his quirks, he was called a genius as the son of a Cardinal.”
Just as Sister Mary said, Priest Daniel had the Holy Knights under his thumb in no time—and even pressed them into forced labor.
It would have been nice if time had simply passed without incident after that. Instead, unsettling movements kept turning up.
More and more hoofprints were being found near the border, and there was a stir on the Forest of Delusion side as well. That uneasy state of affairs stretched on without end.
I woke before dawn and stepped outside. It was spring, yet the air still bit with a chill.
“Hah…”
A long breath left my lips as a pale cloud of white. Unable to sit still with the anxiety gnawing at me, I wandered the village at a slow pace.
Following my feet wherever they took me, I eventually found myself at the wall I had raised.
“What brings you out at this hour?”
The voice belonged to Priest Daniel.
“Just… I couldn’t sleep.”
What was he doing out here at this hour? I had insomnia as an excuse—what about him?
“Is that so?”
“What are you doing out here, Daniel?”
“Patrol.”
Patrol…?
“Patrol?!”
I nearly jumped.
“Haha. Well, we never know when those barbarian scum might show up.”
Apparently, from the day he’d first arrived, Priest Daniel had spoken with the self-defense force—meaning with Master—and arranged a night patrol rotation.
“Why keep that a secret from me?”
“Because if you knew, Saintess, you’d insist on joining.”
“Of course I should be included!”
Even as I flared up, Priest Daniel didn’t so much as blink.
“That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you.”
He really didn’t blink…
“Allow me to explain why I kept it from you.”
With a serious expression, he began. The gist of it went something like this.
Whether Holy Magic or ordinary magic, neither is a technique that runs on Holy Power or mana alone. Mental fortitude is essential. Even a brilliant mage can’t cast properly when their mind is strained or in chaos—and the same holds true when fatigue piles up.
And as the village’s strongest asset—its mage—I needed to remain in perfect condition, ready at all times.
“Everyone agreed, so we made the decision without you, Saintess.”
“Then what about my sister?”
“Emma is participating, of course.”
Emma…! So she’d been sneaky enough not to tell me either?
“Can you understand our reasoning?”
“You could have just explained it to me from the start.”
I puffed out my cheeks in protest, and Priest Daniel looked briefly flustered—then his face settled into something very grave and solemn.
“Haha. You’re like this even now. Do you really think you would have listened if I’d explained it then?”
His pointed remark left me without a comeback. If the subject had come up in a meeting, I would almost certainly have insisted I was fine and thrown a fit.
If anything, Master and Priest Daniel had read my personality perfectly.
“Ugh. You really know how to leave someone speechless.”
“Hahaha. My apologies.”
He laughed heartily, but his expression never softened.
“I believed this was necessary for the flawless protection you desire, Saintess. Even if you scold me—even if I could turn back time—I would make the same choice again.”
He placed that much weight on a mage’s combat power…
“Before the reinforcements arrived, I’ll admit I was uneasy myself. I may have earned recognition for my skill in just a few months, but I’m still a greenhorn with almost no real battle experience… There are times I think it would have been better if Maximilian were standing here instead. Even so, as your escort, Saintess, I had to do what I could. So I made the call as best I knew how.”
I wasn’t the only one who’d been fretting… Priest Daniel had been thinking this through just as seriously…
“Having never known war, I don’t truly understand how strong cavalry can be. All I have is vague information. Still, I gathered what I could from every source and reached my own conclusion. In the end, a mage with wide-area attack capability has to be the main force…! Someone who can lock down the horses’ movement—no, who can overwhelm the enemy together with their mounts. A powerful mage is the key.”
Which meant I, as that mage, had to stay at peak condition and wait in reserve.
“I see…”
“I’m sorry I didn’t inform you.”
It had been nearly a month since I’d returned to the village. Keeping up night patrols since then must have been exhausting.
“You’ve been working hard, haven’t you?”
“It’s not that much hardship. I rotate with the other self-defense force members. And with the six Holy Knights the Church left behind, we’ve got more breathing room.”
So they were on patrol too…
“Ahem. In any case, Saintess, you needn’t worry.”
I asked him how the night patrols actually worked.
“Nothing complicated. It’s much like a night watch. We sweep the surroundings after dark, and if anyone spots an enemy advance, they’re to light the signal fire and blow the whistle.”
Priest Daniel pulled out a whistle to show me. It was small, but I knew perfectly well how piercing a sound it could make.
“Maximilian gave me this.”
It was military issue—compact, but a magic tool that produced an enormous volume of sound.
“He even gave you something like that…”
I was truly, deeply grateful.
More than that, after hearing the full explanation, I felt a little guilty. Priest Daniel had had a plan of his own all along.
“S-so… nothing unusual has happened at night, then?”
I said it mostly to smooth things over. But Priest Daniel’s face grew grave.
“Actually, the Forest of Delusion side has been restless.”
From what he told me, he couldn’t say for certain—but the forest was definitely stirred up.
“Hmm. Then I think I know what it is.”
“You do?”
“Yes. It’s more or less an annual event.”
Monster unrest. The Forest of Delusion was a forest untouched by human hands—and that was the problem. Untouched meant the monsters were never culled. Over time, their numbers simply kept growing.
Of course, monsters fought and competed among themselves, so the population stayed somewhat in check. But they weren’t like humans.
Humans wiped monsters out for the sake of safety. Monsters had their own territories; they drove rivals out of those bounds and left it at that. Total extermination almost never happened. When it did, it was only because the monsters in question were simply that vicious.
“You’re saying the monsters will go on the move?”
“Yes. When a swollen pack of monsters fights over territory and the losers get pushed out.”
Monsters driven beyond the forest almost always headed for our village. It was close—and to a monster, humans were food.
“We’ll need to be careful.”
“Yes. We should check the state of the forest today.”
With our current strength, there shouldn’t be any casualties… right? I would make absolutely sure no one ended up like my brother. That was why I’d learned magic and Holy Magic in the first place.
“Is there really a need to go look? We have enough forces that simply preparing should be enough.”
Priest Daniel wasn’t wrong.
“Well… I’m worried.”
With sufficient strength already in place, there was no strict need to scout ahead. Even so, something told me I ought to go see for myself.
Talking with Priest Daniel like that, morning arrived before I knew it.
“Shall we head back, then?”
“Let’s.”
After breakfast, I’d go to the forest—partly to gather materials, partly to check things out.
I left the wall and made my way back toward the village.
I ate a solid breakfast prepared by Sister Mary, then set out for the Forest of Delusion with Emma and Sister Mary in tow.
“It’s been a while since we went together.”
Emma, who’d been stuck under Mother’s thumb taking bridal lessons, had jumped at my invitation to the forest. The lessons must have been pure misery.
“Sorry about that.”
I’d known she was struggling and had no interest in the lessons, but I’d been too scared of Mother to intervene. This time, though, I hadn’t had anyone else to bring. Taking Priest Daniel would have meant pulling him away from commanding the other Holy Knights—it simply hadn’t been practical.
“Anyway, today isn’t really about gathering. We’re checking the state of the forest.”
“You mean the monsters might be on the move?”
“Yes. The forest is enormous, so we’ll only do a light circuit of the outskirts.”
It hadn’t seemed particularly strange the last time I’d come…
I’d know once I saw it for myself.
We decided to sweep the forest’s outer edge in a wide arc toward the border.
Even out on the periphery, the forest felt different. Restless, maybe? Agitated? There was something subtle yet heavy—like distant impacts—that I could almost sense.
“Are the monsters fighting each other?”
“Probably.”
A territorial war among monsters… I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but it looked like the real thing.
After more than three hours circling the forest’s edge, we seemed to have crossed the border line.
“Emma?”
My sister’s eyes lit up as if she’d spotted something, and she set off in that direction at once.
What on earth had she found?
Curiosity got the better of me, and I hurried after her.