Chapter 18
"Teleport!"
The space twisted, and a new landscape seized our attention. We had finally arrived at Luju Village.
"......My God."
Everyone fell silent at the sight of the village spread out below us.
"Oh, Laisi......" Someone called out to the god, but there was no answer. The benevolent Sun God seemed to have turned his back on this place, leaving only silence in his wake. It was harder to find intact buildings than ruined ones. The air was thick with the stench of blood and ash, and the wreckage blanketed in pristine white snow was utterly wretched. It looked like something enormous had trampled through. It was hard to believe any living beings could survive in such a space.
"It must be the subjugation squad!"
As we all stood speechless, scanning our surroundings, a group came rushing toward us from amid the ruins. An elderly man who appeared to be their leader prostrated himself deeply before us.
"Please stand, elder!"
"Thank you, truly, thank you! We thought we were done for, unable to move a muscle!"
Tears streamed from the old man's eyes in big drops. His cheeks were sunken, his body gaunt enough to show bone. Everyone stared in horror, unable to find words.
The capital knights must be seeing something like this for the first time.
The capital was far from the north, untouched by magic beast incursions, so those beasts were just stories from distant lands to them. It was only natural they'd be shocked by a village trampled into ruins by them.
In the heavy silence, I alone calmly assessed the village's state.
Still, quite a few buildings are intact. Some folks look able to fight. They even have weapons.
I glanced around the village, then at the approaching group. It still had the basics of a settlement, and the able-bodied men who looked like a militia all clutched weapons.
This isn't the worst case.
As someone who'd seen villages reduced to perfect rubble by magic beasts—where survivors had scraped together temporary shelters just to stay alive—there was nothing surprising here. This was familiar territory, part of my life as a mercenary.
"The ground is cold. Please, stand."
I extended a hand to help the old man up and gave a brief bow.
"I'm the mercenary Mir, here on commission."
A stir rippled through the crowd.
"......Mir? You mean that Mercenary King Mir?"
"Mir's here?"
A dozen or so gaunt men whispered in shock, stealing glances at me in disbelief. I nailed it down for them.
"Mir of the Golden Shield mercenaries."
I'd heard plenty of mercenaries impersonated me, but faking a Golden Shield rank was impossible. At my confirmation, the old man gripped my hand tightly with both of his, eyes brimming with tears.
"Thank you so much for coming! We thought we'd all die unmoving this winter...... But with Lady Mir here, I can finally rest easy!"
I felt both relief and burden in the old man's eased expression. Ever since that grandiose title of hero stuck to me, I'd felt like I carried lives on my back. Their faith and expectations in me. I should be used to it by now, but it still weighed heavy. Sometimes, I wanted to shrug off the burden and run.
"You can relax now. No one else will shed blood from here on."
But I'd bear it. This was the path I'd chosen. My blood alone was enough.
I barely soothed the now-sobbing elder and entered the village. He introduced himself as Herbe, the village head, and led us to the square where the villagers had gathered.
"Oh, Laisi......"
Some knights buried their faces in their hands, unable to look; others wiped away tears. There were maybe fifty or sixty souls—men, women, children—all bearing horrific wounds. Their nutrition and hygiene were in dire straits.
Kal had tried desperately not to show it, but his expression—head turned, hand clamped over his mouth—held pure shock.
......He must be seeing this for the first time.
Born the ducal heir, he'd never faced anything like this. Wordlessly, I draped my cloak over his shoulders. His crimson eyes turned to me, but I just stared at the square. The snow-laced wind blowing over my black dress shirt felt especially biting.
"Our village wasn't always like this. Magic beast raids made it tough and impoverished...... but they were mostly small ones, so we villagers banded together and endured. But this winter was different! The magic beasts went berserk!"
War is coming.
The beasts' frenzy was canon in the original story—a precursor to war. I bit my lip, freshly struck by the looming calamity, and listened intently to his words.
"