The Stirring Evil

Balzac Territory was the greatest granary of the Bedia Kingdom. The land as a whole consisted of sweeping plains and rolling hills, its soil fertile and its resources abundant—a place born and blessed for growing crops. Its harvests were exported not only across the kingdom but to foreign nations as well, and Arun, its neighbor, was no exception.

But no one would ever know. That somewhere in this bountiful land, an ominous calamity was quietly beginning to stir.

"Wow! Over there, and there too—it's all gold, every bit of it, yep!"

The moment Sarah set foot in Balzac Territory, her obsidian eyes sparkled.

"Tell me about it. They called it the kingdom's largest granary, but this is a sight all its own."

Luden clicked his tongue in amazement as he looked around. The crops, with harvest season fast approaching, had ripened to perfection and were radiating a brilliant light of life. Who could look upon the golden waves blanketing the vast plains and call them anything but beautiful?

'A completely different world from Kaisar.'

Luden let out a quiet sigh. Gazing at land ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so rich it seemed blessed by the gods threw it into stark contrast with Kaisar, a territory barren beyond measure. If even a tenth of this farmland existed back in Kaisar, the territory would be in far better shape than it was now.

"To think a place like this becomes a wasteland of death in the future."

That was why he couldn't quite believe it. That this beautiful land would one day cease to exist entirely.

In the previous life Luden had lived through, this bountiful land lost its brilliant radiance in an instant and transformed into a land of death. Because of a single incident.

"A knight from Arun, Luden Kaisar. That's him, all right."

The knight who had verified the certificate looked between Luden and Sarah and spoke.

"I'll put you both on the roster. The two of you, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wait a moment and a zone will be assigned to you. There's an information sheet with the details—give it a read."

"Understood."

Every year, as harvest season drew near, creatures came seeking the crops. Beasts, monsters, and on occasion even bands of bandits. Beasts were easy enough to deal with, but monsters were the real problem. Guarding such vast farmland with the lord's private soldiers alone was an enormous task, so every harvest season the lord hired knights and mercenaries.

'As expected, nothing motivates like money in spades.'

Ten thousand Rube a day. Plus additional pay for every monster slain. Absurdly high compensation for a job that amounted to guarding fields. Then again, with a purse that deep, even the proudest knights were volunteering.

Luden and Sarah joined the security force as well.

'Joining the guard will give us easy access to the farmland.'

The security force was a varied lot. It ran from the lord's personal soldiers to mercenaries and wandering knights from out of town—even young village men who fancied themselves strong. With a fat purse waiting for anyone who worked properly until the harvest ended, quite a few had volunteered, and the lord accepted every last one of them.

Among them, Luden received especially favorable treatment. He was a formally sworn knight—and he had demonstrated that he was a capable warrior, one who could wield Aura.

"Those appointed as squad leaders will each be assigned ten men. The zones rotate on guard duty, so remember your shifts well."

The territory's knight commander delivered his orders to the six men chosen as squad leaders, Luden included. The area they had to cover was so vast that entire detachments had been organized, each taking responsibility for its own zone.

'Good. I can ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hand down orders and focus on my own work.'

Thinking it a convenient arrangement, Luden summoned his squad members the moment the briefing ended.

"Luden's the captain now! Let's go catch something huge, yep!"

"We're not going to catch anything, so calm down."

After soothing Sarah, Luden swept his gaze over the assembled men. Three wore annoyed expressions, two looked nervous, and four were already dismissing him at a glance for his youth.

'Not bad, all things considered.'

Assessment complete, Luden spoke.

"I'll keep it short. Wherever you go, you move in pairs of two, and reports come in fast. Understood?"

He put force into his voice, and the men watching him flinched. From Luden, who looked years younger than any of them, they felt an inexplicable pressure. Before they knew it, they were answering with everything they had.

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Yes."

"Understood!"

They looked like recruits under strict military discipline, and Luden nearly laughed out loud. He'd copied what Ben used to do when drilling soldiers, and the effect was excellent.

"Hey, you. Name?"

"M-me, sir?"

"I don't ask twice."

"P-Phillip, sir."

"Right, Phillip. Are you quick on your feet?"

At Luden's question, Phillip swallowed hard. Unlike the others, he carried no weapon of any kind, and he answered trembling with unease.

"I-I was known around the village as pretty fast, sir."

"Even better. Then you'll handle communications with the other squads."

"Y-yes... huh?"

Turning away from the bewildered Phillip, Luden addressed the squad members watching him.

"We deploy immediately. Report anything suspicious, however small."

"Sir!"

Dungeon Break.

A phenomenon in which, through some trigger, a dungeon's boundaries vanish and the dangers within spill out into the world unchanged. It was a disaster of a kind.

'There had been damage from Dungeon Breaks before, but the one at Balzac was on an entirely different level.'

Dungeons came in all shapes and sizes, and so the damage and circumstances of a Dungeon Break varied from case to case. Some ended with barely any harm done, while others wiped villages or entire cities off the map. Balzac Territory ranked among the very worst of them.

In just one day after the Dungeon Break occurred, the entire land had turned to wasteland. Every cultivated crop withered, and not so much as a blade of grass would ever grow there again.

The fallout was staggering. The Bedia Kingdom, which had lost its greatest granary overnight, went without saying—crop prices across the continent skyrocketed overnight. Even in neighboring Arun, the price of wheat rose to absurd heights.

Common folk began to starve. And in the end, it spiraled into outright famine.

"In other words, if Balzac Territory stays safe and sound, the famine never gets that bad."

There were still problems that demanded his attention, but at the very least things would not spiral into the disaster of his previous life.

And for that, the task was simple: find the dungeon hidden in this land and conquer it. That was the very reason Luden had come to Balzac Territory.

"The problem is how to find it in all this vast land."

"So it's hide-and-seek? Sarah's really good at finding things, yep!"

"Good. I'm counting on you, Sarah."

"Waaah! Leave it to me, yep!"

Full of fighting spirit, Sarah dashed off. Without hearing a single word about what she was supposed to find.

She'd be fine. Carefree as she looked, she would be the first to respond the moment anything happened. Luden trusted Sarah's nose as much as he trusted his own skills.

"Then I'll start searching over here."

Luden's eyes turned a gleaming gold.

His vision transformed in an instant. The rice stalks far in the distance appeared as though right before his eyes, and the insects preying on them were etched into view in vivid detail.

"Ugh!"

Luden clutched his head as a sudden headache crashed over him. With his vision magnified, several times the usual volume of information came flooding in, and his brain had overloaded.

"This isn't something I can use often."

His eyes were already feeling the strain. Extended use was out of the question.

Luden narrowed his eyes and waited until he'd adjusted to the altered vision.

"Phew. Better find it fast."

In his previous life, no one had ever realized a dungeon lay here until the Dungeon Break occurred. But Luden didn't think finding it would be all that difficult. The search area was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠impossibly vast, true—but considering a dungeon's nature, some anomalous trace was bound to remain.

His skill, and Sarah's nose. With those two alone, finding a hidden dungeon would be quick work.

In essence, it was the first task in preventing the disaster of the future.

Luden's Clairvoyance pierced through the wheat fields stretching to the horizon.

Four days passed.

"What's going on? Did I get it wrong?"

Guard duty went smoothly. He and his squad members took turns standing watch over their assigned zone, driving off the beasts and monsters that appeared now and then. Things flowed along smoothly without Luden needing to lift a finger.

But apart from the guard duty, the search for the hidden dungeon was making no progress.

"I've already covered nearly all the farmland. And if there's still nothing, then..."

For four days, Luden had combed the farmlands of Balzac Territory under the pretext of patrols, but in the end he found nothing resembling a dungeon entrance anywhere.

Dungeon entrances were all different. Some took easily recognizable forms; others could exist in places no one would ever think to look. But the peculiar aura unique to dungeons could never be fully concealed. If a dungeon truly existed here, there was no way Luden's Clairvoyance or Sarah's nose would have missed it.

Had he overlooked something?

While Luden sat deep in thought, someone came running from far off.

"C-Captain. Hah, hah... reporting back, sir."

"Good work, Phillip."

Drenched in sweat, Phillip drew a deep breath. Unlike the other squad members, he was just an ordinary village youth; he took no part in combat and served instead as the runner between squads.

"Phillip. You didn't notice anything strange out there, did you?"

"Hm? Strange how, sir?"

"Anything's fine. I'm asking whether anything caught your eye on your rounds."

"Hmm. No, I don't believe I saw anything, sir."

Nothing again, then.

Luden sighed. Had he been thinking about it too simply?

'No. There's still ground left unsearched. No point getting impatient.'

Luden resolved to keep watching.

The trouble began a week later.

"KYAHAHAHAHA! Alright, boys—go take everything they've got! Carve the name of Shakan into their bones, along with terror!"

A horde came charging with a tremendous roar. Judging by their appearance, they were a bandit gang.

"That's quite a lot of them. Somebody with a name to himself, then?"

At a glance, the gang numbered well over a hundred. A force that size was more than likely a bandit group with a reputation.

"All of you, prepare for battle!"

The knight commander's order rang out, and one by one they drew their weapons and readied for the fight.

"Hehe! A fight, yep!"

"C-Captain, what do we do?"

"Wait for now."

Luden studied the bandits through his Clairvoyance. They were reasonably well ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠equipped—not your halfway, ragtag bunch of bandits.

'They have the numbers, but our side holds the edge in quality.'

Even so, that many enemies charging in at once would be hard to handle. Their forces were scattered at the moment.

Then the bandits were right upon them. The moment the fields drew near, they spread out wide in perfect unison, as if they'd rehearsed it.

"Is he an idiot?"

An incredulous sound escaped Luden on the spot. If they had charged in as one mass, holding them back would have been difficult—and here they were, scattering of their own accord.

From the look of it, they figured that spreading out to plunder would make them impossible to handle. Did they not realize there were knights here besides the mercenaries? Spread out like that, they were all the easier to cut down one by one.

"They're practically asking us to take them."

"What do we do?"

"What do you mean, what do we do? We do the work we're paid for."

Luden addressed Sarah, who was already quivering with excitement.

"Sarah. It's hunting time."

"Wahoo!"

As though she'd been waiting for those very words, the black wolf girl bounded over the fields and slammed into the bandits in a single burst.

Splat!

"GAAAAAAAHHH!!"

"Wh-what the—?!"

"You little brat!"

Blood sprayed. Horrific screams rang out as the bandits' corpses piled up across the fields.

Luden turned to the ashen-faced Phillip.

"Phillip. Go report to the knight commander."

"R-report what, sir?"

"Diiiie!"

Shunk!

The head of a lunging bandit went flying.

"No reinforcements needed over here—worry about somewhere else."