The edges of the clouds drifting in the night sky were stained with a deep indigo color by the faint moonlight.
Kyle, who was cooling his flushed cheeks in the chilly night air, chuckled as he saw Ruon walking from behind the inn.
“At least you have some humanity. If you drank eight bottles of honey wine by yourself and didn’t even pee, you’d be a real monster. Don’t you think?”
Ruon adjusted his posture and replied briefly.
“It seems like I drank less than usual.”
Kyle pointed at his own face with his index finger and retorted.
“Who? Me? Oh, come on, that’s a big deal.”
He waved his hand as if to stop the conversation and added.
“That’s enough to drink a lot. If I drank like I used to and twisted my nose, Igor would torture me for at least ten days, right?”
Ruon snickered.
“You’ve seen better days.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Ever since I held the shield, I thought my life was going downhill, but Tivela’s sword… I can’t understand the goddess’s taste at all.”
Well?
It wasn’t incomprehensible. No matter what anyone said, Kyle was a warrior who helped kill the great demon, and he didn’t have a proper religion, so from the goddess’s point of view, it was probably a good idea to mark him as her great warrior before the other gods got jealous. It was a kind of bold investment.
Then Kyle made an oops expression and took something out of his pocket and handed it to Ruon.
“I forgot about this. You asked me so earnestly.”
Ruon tilted his head as he confirmed that it was a white envelope.
“What is this?”
“Take it.”
Kyle gave Ruon the letter with a mischievous expression and added.
“I’ll go in first, so read it slowly. I saw Strabo was so excited earlier and asked Tarwen all kinds of questions. We can’t leave them alone to get along.”
Ruon looked at Kyle going into the inn for a moment and lowered his gaze. He peeled off the red wax seal and unfolded the neatly folded letter. Then a faint orange scent tickled his nose.
-To my dear Ruon.
Ruon smiled faintly at the sincere handwriting that greeted him shyly.
You’ve been doing well.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the letter in his hand. Meanwhile, the inn was filled with laughter of all sizes. The pretty good night went on like that.
***
The next morning, as the owner watched the party preparing to leave, he approached Ruon, who was sitting alone in a chair and sipping the leftover wine.
“Did you have a good night last night?”
“Thanks to you, I ate well and rested well.”
Ruon answered as he took a bite of the hard bread, and the owner smiled faintly and politely stretched out both hands.
“It’s not much, but please drink it when you think of it…”
Ruon smiled as he confirmed that it was honey wine in the owner’s hand.
“It’s not small, it’s enough.”
“I’m glad you say that.”
Meanwhile, the rest of the party gathered in the dining room one by one. They looked at the floor covered with bottles and snickered.
“Did we drink all this?”
At Tarwen’s words, Kyle repeated the motion of clenching and opening his fingers with his iron gloves on.
“It wasn’t us, it was Ruon.”
“Didn’t you all read novels when you were young? Heroes usually drink well. Think of it as living up to your name!”
At the dwarf’s words, Igor added with a faint smile.
“I don’t know about the relationship between heroes and alcohol, but I have no objection to Ruon being a hero.”
You’ve gone crazy.
Ruon sighed deeply as he watched the noisy party, who had only said one word each. He said.
“It’s too much to deduct from the reward.”
As he rummaged through his pocket, the owner was startled and waved his hand.
“No, no! It’s not even worth it to call it a fermented wine, and how can I take money from the person who saved the village. It’s outrageous.”
Whether he said it or not, Ruon took out a few silver coins and held out his palm as if to take them.
“If you had come a little later yesterday, most of the men in this village would have been ready to become fertilizer in the monster’s stomach. You saved our lives, and what is this wine? It’s not enough, but please think of it as a treat for our benefactor.”
The owner almost sobbed as he said that, and Ruon couldn’t persuade him any more and put the coins back in.
In this world where all kinds of horrible and dirty things were rampant, the fact that there were people like him was a small consolation in itself. Ruon, who knew that better than anyone, smiled faintly and reached out his hand.
“Next time I come, treat me as a guest.”
The owner shook his hand and scratched his head.
“I, I’ll try.”
***
The group left the ‘Crow’s Head’ village and hurried their steps, following Tarwen’s guidance.
Except for when they were on the move, they each had their own things to do to kill time.
Ruon either rested quietly or sparred with Kyle, who had become quite fun to exchange blows with. Of course, Kyle was always the one who ended up exhausted.
Igor grabbed Kyle and lectured him on how to use his divine power, or prayed with him. He always had a smile on his face, clearly enjoying the fact that his friend had become the champion of the goddess.
‘What the hell! This is not a rest!’
Kyle groaned, but no one paid attention to him.
Strabo chatted not only with people, but also with horses, and Tarwen spent more time lost in her thoughts as the cradle drew closer.
On the fourth night, Tarwen, who was poking the bonfire with a twig, opened her mouth.
“Do you all have some time?”
Kyle, who had been kicked in the face by a near miss, quickly sat down in front of her, as if he had met a savior.
“Sure.”
Tarwen waited for everyone to gather and said.
“We’ll be in a village by tomorrow.”
Strabo snorted and retorted.
“Is that all? I thought you were going to tell us something amazing.”
Tarwen shook her head.
“It’s not an ordinary village.”
She picked up a thin branch that had fallen on the ground and drew a long line on the ground.
“Here is Aniar, here is Luandal.”
She tapped the right and left sides of the line, then drew a slash across it and continued.
“And here is the border between the two countries. You can think of us as being near here now.”
Igor nodded.
“I see.”
Tarwen smiled lightly at the serious priest’s gaze and went on.
“I used the word border, but the slashed area is actually quite wide. In fact, the whole land is ownerless.”
Kyle tilted his head.
“How is that possible? Did our king, who is crazy about conquest, just leave this much land alone?”
Tarwen answered without hesitation.
“He had no choice. Even he wouldn’t be greedy for a cursed land.”
“A cursed land?”
Ruon asked, unfolding his arms. He didn’t like Tarwen’s way of telling a long story before getting to the point, but this time he was quite interested, so he didn’t interrupt her right away.
Whether she knew it or not, she pointed at the ground and answered.
“A long time ago, there were madmen who tried to summon the spirit king by drawing out the natural power inherent in this land. Of course, they failed miserably, and the price was paid by the land, not by them.”
The rest of the story was simple.
Their misguided ambition caused an incident that disrupted the balance of nature, and as a result, a barren land where no one could live was formed.
“The spire they built for the ritual became the den of evil witches over time, and that place is, as you know, the cradle.”
Ruon, who had been listening quietly, threw a word.
“Yeah, interesting story. But what does that have to do with the village we’re going to tomorrow?”
At that, Tarwen covered her mouth with her palm. She thought she had gone too far off the track.
“Ah… I’ve been rambling on again.”
She fanned her face with her hand and said.
“That village is the last one we’ll see before we reach the cradle. Beyond that, there’s nothing but barren land. So it’s usually good to stock up on supplies here, but… as I said, it’s not a normal place, so I wanted to ask your opinion.”
Kyle, who had roughly figured out her way of speaking, smiled and said.
“You have to tell us what kind of place it is to make a decision.”
Tarwen answered with a flushed face. It didn’t seem to be because of the bonfire.
“People who know call that village a slum. It’s where all kinds of criminals from the two countries that are separated by the cursed land gather. Of course, you’re all great fighters, so they won’t dare to attack you, but… there are also plenty of bastards who harm innocent horses. And there’s no big reason for that. They might not like Strabo’s beard, for instance.”
At that, Strabo hugged the horse’s neck, which was chewing on weeds with a stupid expression, and squawked.
“What kind of creepy thing is that? How can they harm our Toby? He’s the first horse I’ve ever ridden properly!”
You even named the horse?
Ruon smirked, looking at the dwarf who was rubbing his face on the horse’s forehead.
“That means there’s a high chance of getting into unnecessary trouble.”
“Right. It’s not a big deal to deal with those fearless and rude bastards, but we can’t waste time because of that.”
He pondered for a moment and answered.
“Then let’s just get some water and food and leave right away. We can leave the horses’ safety to Nightmare, but it’s better to just pass by than to worry about them for no reason.”
Igor nodded.
“I agree with that.”
As Kyle and Strabo nodded in agreement, Tarwen clapped her hands softly.
“Alright, let’s do that.”
The next day, the group arrived at a barren hill after walking diligently. On the land covered with dull weeds that had no signs of life, there was a village that had an even gloomier atmosphere.
As they approached the village that was filled with a strange silence, Tarwen muttered to herself.
“It’s weird… It wasn’t a lively place, but it didn’t feel like a ghost town either.”
Just like she said, the slum looked like a place where no one could live, even from afar. It was too quiet and desolate.
By chance, dark clouds swallowed the sun and the gray sky added to the ominous mood.
Something is definitely wrong.
Ruon narrowed his eyes as he felt a warning from his intuition that rose in his mind. His intuition, which was mixed with his many experiences and the power of countless sentences that filled his inner self, sometimes gave him predictions that were close to foresight.
This situation was exactly like that. There is something. In that village.
“There’s someone standing over there.”
Then Kyle stretched out his hand. In the direction he pointed, a burly man with a shaved head was standing still and looking at the group that was approaching.
“I’ll go first.”
After finishing his words, Ruon got off his Nightmare and walked towards the burly man with big strides. He also had an impressive stature, so the two men could look at each other eye to eye.
Ruon asked.
“Why are you staring at me like that? Is there a checkpoint in this village?”
The burly man blinked his dull eyes slowly and opened his mouth. Then a very unpleasant metallic sound came out.
“I was surprised when you suddenly disappeared without a trace… But I’m glad, I thought you would come here eventually, so I prepared something in advance.”
As soon as he heard the tone of the other person, Ruon clenched his fist. Then a red cross-shaped line appeared on the burly man’s face and quickly spread to all sides.
Beyond the teeth that were densely packed inside, a blazing flame spewed out in a straight line from the dark throat.
Thanks to the agile Ego Sword that activated the shield immediately, Ruon stood upright without any burns and swung his arm hard.
The fist that flew with an explosive force exploded on the monster’s mouth and blood splashed everywhere.
Ruon stomped on the chest of the fallen monster and growled low.
“I guess you’re ready to have your head smashed. Hella.”
