* * * * *
“Haaah—”
I sat weakly on a large rock, basking in the alluring moonlight.
“It’s been… two years, huh…”
The time passed really fast, yet really slow.
I gaze blankly at the sky with my hand on the shaft of my sword that I carry at my waist.
The scene of two years ago recurred in my mind.
I remembered the conversation that I had with Sofia as if were just yesterday, back when I fought with a mutant ogre and was wrapped in bandages while suffering severe wounds— so severe that they took three whole months to heal.
[…Hey, your father told me that when you say you want to leave the village—]
“I guess I owe my father a lot.”
[—He wants you to wait for two years, and drill you with all the possible necessary skills to live. After that, you can leave the village and do as you please. He said that even if you have the strength to defeat monsters, he can’t send a naive child away…”]
“Three more days and it’ll be exactly two years.”
At first, I had no intention of waiting for two whole years.
But I still did so that I could live on my own even if I were to be thrown out into the wild.
I had to learn the absolute minimum necessary to live, and so I was given the minimum amount of education to at least follow what my father had said.
“I wonder what Sofia is doing now.”
Three adventurers came to the village often after the ogre incident— namely Lowe, Lilea, and Yoshua.
And just a month ago, they stopped by at the village, simply having some business nearby, and were returning to the royal capital from the village, as far as I could remember.
Sofia, though I had no idea what she was thinking, said that she would go to the capital ahead of me and left with them.
So the last time I saw her was a month ago.
I didn’t know what she was thinking when she changed her mind at the last minute after my father asked her to wait for two years as I did, but I guessed she had her own reasons.
I convinced myself to not think too much about it… but I suddenly became curious.
The reason being that I may be feeling a sense of loneliness about leaving the village where I had lived for so many years, and maybe it was because I was looking for a way to hide it.
“Well, I’ll be in the capital in three days, so I’ll know about it anyway. There’s no point in thinking about it now.”
Saying those words, I turned my gaze upward and stepped down from the rock on which I was sitting.
Night is the world of monsters.
My father always told me to not go out at night, no matter how many monsters I could defeat.
But today, for some reason, I felt like going outside to enjoy the night breeze.
“Guess I’ll head back, huh?”
Even if I were to get home late, I doubted they would be as worried about me now as they were two years ago.
But they would still be worried, so I turned on my heel and decided that it was time to go back.
And after several minutes of walking, the sight of the village, illuminated by the lights, came into view… and so did Sofia’s father— Alec, the village chief —and my father, who were near the entrance, in addition to two more people that I didn’t recognize.
They were exchanging words, as if they were having an argument or something.
It was justified by the grim expression that Alec had on his face, making it obvious that it was not a very good discussion.
***
Reaper Scans
***
“Father.”
“…Oh, Julius.”
When I took a few dozen steps toward the bunch of people who were present at the time and called out to them, they looked at me all at once.
The one who was arguing with my father and the others was a woman who had a drawn blade, and two men dressed as soldiers.
“Who are these people?”
“……”
I asked my father, but for some reason, I heard no response.
He just closed his mouth awkwardly.
I wondered what in the hell was going on, and why they were looking at me with such a dubious face.
It was not my father, but the woman facing him answered my question for me.
“Pardon for our late introduction. I am Viera Islebark, and these two are my companions.”
She had a family name other than the one I knew from my father, and as how she introduced herself, she’s probably a…
“…So you are a noble, then…”
She’s a noblewoman.
I wondered why Alec and my father didn’t look at me in a good light as I used such informal honorifics they had taught me to use in the capital.
I realized why they told me that I would have a lot of opportunities to use them.
“What could a noble person be doing in a remote village like this?”
My father glared at me, telling me not to open my mouth any further, probably because their conversation had been somewhat heated until a few minutes ago.
I would be leaving this village in three days anyway.
My father told me that nobles are generally short-tempered, and if anyone in the village were to incur their wrath, it would be me.
“To put it simply, we are going around villages to draft people.”
“…Draft?”
I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard such an unfamiliar word.
“Strictly speaking, we are short of manpower. We need more men to defeat the monsters, so I’m here to ‘draft’ people from here.”
The voice that had been shaking my eardrums since a few minutes ago contained no emotion whatsoever, and I wondered if a doll was speaking in place of a person.
I was struck by such a strange illusion.
“…So you are implying that there is a problem that cannot be handled by adventurers nor soldiers in the capital?”
An addition of one or two village people wouldn’t be enough to begin with.
I didn’t know what to say, except that it wouldn’t help at all, and yet the woman in front of me said she was going around to villages and so on.
…What a strange thing, I thought.
“All that came as an order from the higher-ups, so I can’t say more than that. However, this has already been decided, so I would like you to send at least one person from your village.”
“If that’s the case, all I have to do is head over there and this discussion is done.”
“We are asking for at least one person from this village to help us. Whoever it is, as long as he is a capable volunteer, there would be no problem. That’s what the order is about.”
“Hey— Julius! Don’t go on talking without permission!”
My father grabbed my hand and looked sternly at me to not say anything more than I could.
“…This is not something you want to get involved in.”
After briefly glancing at the woman who called herself Viera, whose expression didn’t change, my father continued his words.
“If the ‘Warrior Princess’ is involved, I can’t send you away no matter what…”
My father whispered to himself, his voice almost inaudible even to me, who was standing right beside him.
‘Warrior Princess’ is probably her name, that Viera Islebark.
I’ve been finding her atmosphere to be indescribably creepy, but her grand name made me feel a little more familiar with her.
She was probably a good match for me, who had a name as big as being a “Star Slayer.”
Such an unimportant thought came to my mind unexpectedly.
“In any case, Julius, go home. Once again, We can’t let you get involved with this.”
And for some pressing reason, my father and Alec didn’t want me to get involved with it.
——
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