Morhan Village (1)
"Are you Kim Ki-seok?"
"Yes, that's me. Is something the matter?"
The blonde knightess bowed her head in greeting.
"I am Lena Eisenhart, Vice Commander of the Tebe Knight Order. Thank you for your assistance in apprehending the Tower's serial killers."
The surrounding adventurers immediately began to murmur.
"What? He caught the serial killers?"
"And the Vice Commander herself came to thank him..."
The Vice Commander of Tebe. Bound blonde hair, blue eyes — and more than anything, it was her bearing that stood out. A ramrod-straight spine, the crisp precision even in the way she bowed, and those unyielding eyes: every nerve in your body could feel that this woman was strong, gender be damned.
And the second-in-command of the entire Knight Order was bowing her head to me!!
I scrubbed at my nose with my index finger and said,
"Please, raise your head. I only did what needed doing."
"Thanks to you, Ki-seok, we were able to put an end to this before the damage grew any worse."
Her words set the crowd buzzing again. Then, without warning, she stepped in close.
Her face — those eyes especially — so near that I swallowed hard without meaning to. And then, out of sight of the others, she pressed something into my hand.
"What... is this?"
It was a silver badge, a shield emblazoned with a sun at its center.
In answer, she leaned in and whispered against my ear. My nerves wound even tighter.
"Think of it as a token, of sorts. Should you find yourself in trouble inside the Tower, show this badge to anyone bearing the same crest — and you will receive aid."
"Th-thank you."
She took a step back and spoke again.
"Personally, I would have preferred to offer you a material reward. Unfortunately, given my position..."
That much, I understood. Killers or not — I hadn't captured them. I had killed a great many people. Inside a city, no less. Walking away without punishment was already more than I could have hoped for. It hadn't even been self-defense. It had been assassination...
Then a man's voice cut in.
"Vice Commander, we must go. The foreign envoys will be arriving shortly."
"Is it that time already?"
She gave the soldier an affirmative nod, then looked back at me.
"I have a schedule to keep, so I must take my leave. Once again — thank you, Ki-seok."
"Not at all. Hahaha..."
Seeing me flustered, a smile touched the corner of her mouth.
"Just as I thought. You are not the sort of man who acts purely out of vengeance."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. When you grow stronger, come find me. I would make a special exception and—"
"Vice Commander!!"
"A-all right! Then, until next time..."
With that, the Vice Commander took her leave, striding out of the guild at a measured, unvarying pace.
I turned the badge over in my fingers.
Do I just... pin it on?
It was a badge, after all.
I fastened it to my chest, then walked over to a mirror inside the guild and studied my reflection.
Hmm... kind of cool, actually?
That was when the watching adventurers started drifting over, one by one.
"What's your connection with the Vice Commander, lad?"
"You really took down those murderers? I heard there was more than one."
"Haha... ha..."
The sudden crush of people and stares was too much. I started backing away — and right then, Henry walked through the guild doors.
"Henry!!"
"Hyung!!"
I hurried over, slung an arm around his shoulders, and said,
"What took you so long~ Come on, let's grab a quest — a quest!!"
"A quest? All of a sudden?"
I shot the baffled Henry a sharp look.
"Ah... ha! Right. We were going to take a quest. Wonder what's up on the board?"
We made our way to the quest board. As we stood there ignoring everyone and talking among ourselves, the crowd gradually gave up and drifted back to their seats. I let out a quiet breath of relief.
Henry leaned in and whispered,
"Did something happen?"
"Just... people getting a little too curious. Since we're already here, we might as well take a quest together."
"Sounds good, hyung!"
We scanned the posted flyers. Carriage escort work, missing cats, material gathering, manual labor — the usual grab bag of odd jobs. And then one flyer practically glowed like honey in my eyes.
Henry noticed where my gaze had locked and checked the flyer himself.
"Huh? Hyung, the place you're looking at — that's my village."
"Is it? Sounds like your village is having trouble with wild boars."
It was a boar extermination request from Morhan Village. The reward: one gold coin. A full gold coin just for taking care of some boars.
"There's a forest near the village, so boars do wander out from time to time. But not enough that they'd normally put up a quest for it..."
"Must have gotten worse all of a sudden. How about we take this one?"
"Fine by me! If it means helping the village."
With that, we headed over to the receptionist.
The next day, we secured a carriage and set out on the road. Morhan Village was a two-day ride by carriage — farther than I'd expected, but that actually worked in our favor. The travel time would give my body a chance to recover.
Along the way, Henry told me all sorts of stories. His first love, the confession, and exactly why he'd been rejected.
"Why'd she turn you down?"
"She said she likes strong men. The kind who can protect her."
Was part of Henry's drive to become a knight still tangled up in leftover feelings for that first love?
When the sun went down, we made camp. Henry got a fire going with practiced ease and started preparing a meal.
"You're good at this~ A real cook."
"This is nothing special. Though, yeah — cooking's something I'm decent at."
Back in the village, cooking had been his specialty, he said. Sautéed mushrooms and meat stew. Thorough as always, Henry had even brought ice so the meat wouldn't spoil.
"Knowing ice magic would make this even easier."
"There's magic like that?"
"There is. Pretty convenient, right? Ice magic, fire magic — being able to use those makes travel a lot smoother."
I had never put a single point into my Magic stat. If I did invest in it... would I be able to use magic too?
My first night camping since coming to this world. We ate well and fell asleep under the open sky.
After two days of hard travel, we arrived at Morhan Village. The moment we stepped down from the carriage, people nearby recognized Henry.
"Henry! It's been a while!"
"What? Henry's back?"
A few of them came over.
"Yes, sir. We took the quest. I heard boars have been showing up?"
"Henry, don't even get me started. These days the boars come down almost every single day~"
"They're tearing the crops to shreds. Absolute pests."
"And who's this next to you?"
The village man looked at me and asked Henry.
"This is the hyung I respect more than anyone. He took the quest with me."
"Well now, is that so. Come along this way, then."
I followed the men and Henry through the village. It was a very small place — fewer than twenty buildings that looked like homes. The house we arrived at sat on the highest ground in the village.
Knock, knock.
"Dad! I'm home!"
"Well, if it isn't my youngest!"
The man looked well on in years.
"I took the quest, Dad! And this hyung came with me."
"Hello."
I smiled as I answered, watching Henry light up at the reunion with his family. For a moment, I thought of my own parents, long gone.
"Thank you so much for coming. I'm the chief of this village."
"Would you mind telling us exactly what's been going on?"
"Of course! Please, have a seat. You too, Henry."
We sat down and listened to the chief's account.
A week ago, boars had appeared in the village. That in itself wasn't unusual — boars wandered into villages looking for food all the time. Normally the villagers wouldn't have thought much of it. But that day, something had been off. Fully five boars had shown up in a single day.
"Five boars?"
"Yes. But this village doesn't have many young men who can fight. We barely managed to kill them."
A young man showed us the wounds a boar had left on him. Here, too, most of the young men left for the cities chasing bigger money, leaving the village populated mostly by frail elders and women.
"Take a look."
The chief gestured for us to follow and showed us the carcass of a recently killed boar.
"It's big."
Larger than a Korean wild boar, with tusks to match. In a village this small, something like that would be a genuine threat.
"We need to go out and chop firewood, but we haven't been able to enter the forest lately."
The wounded young man said it with a troubled look. Winter was coming fast, and without a stockpile of firewood, this village's cold season would be brutal.
"Understood. We'll hunt down the boars in the area."
"Thank you."
We began searching the outskirts of the village — animal droppings, footprints, any other traces. Before long we arrived at the entrance to the forest near the village.
"This almost looks like a path."
There was a stretch where the grass barely grew, running like a trail through the trees.
"That's right. It is a path."
"In a forest?"
Henry explained,
"When a forest is large enough, people end up cutting trails for efficiency. Mostly merchants in a hurry. But when boars start showing up this often, or word of bandits gets around, they take the long way around."
Fair enough — this wasn't a mountain forest like back in Korea.
After some hard searching, we finally encountered a boar living in the woods. The moment it spotted us, it shifted its weight onto one foot and prepared to charge.
"Henry, stay sharp."
"Yes, hyung!"
The boar charged. I dodged it easily and slashed its flank with my dagger!
Squeeeal—
"Henry, it's coming your way!"
"Leave it to me!"
Henry had a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. He caught the boar's body-slam on the shield.
"Ugh!"
He was shoved back a step, but the boar's momentum was spent.
Thrust!
Henry's blade ran the boar through. It collapsed.
"Hyung, I took it down!"
Henry bounced on his feet with pure delight.
"Well done."
"I'm glad I followed your advice and started using a shield."
I examined the dead boar.
What's this?
On the side opposite the wound I'd cut — a broken arrowhead was lodged in its hide.
We kept searching and kept killing boars. The meat went straight into my inventory for easy storage.
"Hyung, how are you storing boars this big? Even a magic pouch couldn't hold them."
"It's my unique skill. Keep it between us."
"Isn't that completely broken?! Are you secretly some kind of archmage or something?"
By the time we'd taken down eight boars, we were ready to head back.
"Eheheh."
"Kikik."
But then a strange sound drifted through the trees. Something laughing. The broken arrowhead from earlier flashed through my mind.
"Hyung! What is that sou—"
"Shh."
I held a finger to my lips and began scouting the area. It didn't take long to find the source of the noise.
This is bad...
I gestured for Henry to come closer. His eyes went wide at the sight.
Suddenly I understood why the boars had been driven down into the village. Their territory had been stolen — by monsters.
I spoke in a low voice.
"Goblins."
Goblins. Monsters that showed up constantly in games and comics. Individually they might be weak, but they formed groups and had the intelligence to use tools. The difference between a creature with intelligence and one without was enormous.
"Kikik."
"Uhihit!"
What we were looking at through the trees was a goblin settlement. Eleven of them in plain sight, drinking and eating meat, dancing around.
"Stay here."
I needed to map the layout of the goblin village and get an accurate headcount through the trees. Erasing my presence, I crept forward. For fifteen careful minutes I moved, checking every corner of the settlement.
My conclusion after surveying the whole place: this was very dangerous. We needed to warn the chief immediately.
"Henry, we're heading back to the village. Now."
"Yes, hyung."
We hurried back.
The chief and the villagers were waiting for us.
"How did it go? Did you find any boars?"
the chief asked.
"Yes. We killed several of them."
"Oh, thank goodness you're both safe."
The chief and the villagers pressed hands to their chests in relief. But there was something I had to say.
"The boars aren't the real problem."
"What do you mean?"
"We found something dangerous in the forest."
The chief and the villagers' eyes went wide.
"Goblins."
"What?"
"There's a goblin settlement in the forest."
Murmurs erupted.
"How many of them...?"
"I circled the settlement and counted. I saw twenty."
"Good heavens!"
At that, the chief sank to the ground. This was a village that had barely managed three boars. Twenty goblins was an overwhelming number.
"Hyung, what should we do about the goblins?"
"Is there anywhere nearby we can get help from?"
If we could just get reinforcements quickly, we might be all right. But the answer that came back was not what I'd hoped for.
"If we go to the city, we can call for soldiers — but the round trip would take two days."
"That's too late."
"Too late?"
The whispering around us grew louder.
"They were drinking and eating boar meat, dancing and celebrating. The boars kept fleeing from those goblins and coming down into the village."
The worst-case scenario painted itself in my head. If the soldiers would be too late...
"Then if they're only in the forest, can't we just stay out of the forest?"
one of the village youths asked.
"No. Their food and drink looked nearly gone. Once those run out, where do you think they'll go looking?"
"Hyung, then..."
"Exactly what you just imagined. They might raid this village."
A child burst into tears. The women's faces went rigid.
I'd heard plenty of stories about those little demons in the taverns. Everyone knew goblins were wicked monsters. Those little fiends killed without distinction — elders, children — and the women...
My own expression hardened.
"Isn't there any way?"
one of the young men asked.
"A way, huh..."
I thought it over carefully. That many goblins was more than this village's people could handle. Even for me... that number... and they'd be sober.
Wait. What if they weren't sober?
What I'd seen at the settlement: dancing, meat, alcohol... alcohol?!
"Chief."
"Yes?"
The chief rose with Henry's support and answered. I put on a grim expression.
"There is one gambit that might work."
"What is it?"
"First, send someone to the city to request reinforcements. And raise the village walls higher and stronger while you're at it."
I continued,
"I also heard something from Henry before. That this village's specialty is honey wine."
"That's true, but... why bring that up all of a sudden?"
The chief looked thoroughly confused.
"And that you have a brew strong enough to twist a man's nose sideways."
"Well, yes — there's a wine so strong that most people can't get out of bed until the next day after a single cup."
"Prepare about three casks of that wine, and a cart."
At those words, Henry caught on and looked at me.
"We're going to get them dead drunk on that wine — and then kill them."