The sunlight pouring down made people forget the cloudiness from the previous day, the blue sky was spread out as if the end of summer was still far away.
It was the day after Daska arrived at Goto and everyone was preparing to leave the village after breakfast.
The village chief and Ruchard were the only ones who came to see them off aside from Apika and the two gatekeepers.
Originally, all the villagers had planned to see them off, but Daska stopped them.
They had already interrupted the wheat harvest upon their arrival the day before, so Daska told the residents not to see him off and to get back to work on the harvest.
From the perspective of the villagers, they were happy that Daska cared about their work as farmers.
The lord of the village did not belong to any faction and did not have a high ranking title either, being a viscount.
He wasn’t particularly tyrannical and the taxes he charged were very ordinary as well. No, compared to other villages, the tax here could be considered rather light due to their proximity to the Selemus Plains, which was often a battlefield against the Bestir Empire.
But it was fair to say that no lord, even the lord of this village, would speak with farmers like them.
In fact, this was the norm.
However, despite Daska’s high status as a Margrave, he had cared for the villagers. On the contrary, he had even directly approached some of them during the welcoming banquet the day before.
From the farmers’ perspective, it was incredible to see someone like Daska in person.
「UWAAAAAAH, no, no, nooo-! I don’t want Set, nii-chan, and nee-chan to go-!」
Apika’s cries echoed out at the village entrance.
He cried as he hugged Set, demonstrating his unwillingness to let them go.
While his parents were busy with farm work, Rei, Set, and Vihera had been the ones to play with him.
For Apika, realising that his playmates were leaving was absolutely unbearable.
「Apika, don’t cause so much trouble.」
「I don’t want to-!」
Apika stubbornly refused to let go of Set and eventually Rei, who had been standing next to Set, put his hand on Apika’s head.
「Hic……nii-chan?」
Rei spoke as he stroked Apika’s head, who looked up at him with tears in his eyes.
「It’s true that we have to leave for now, but it’s not like we’ll never meet again. Besides, we’re going to the Bestir Empire. Once we’ve finished what we need to do there, we’ll return to the Mireana Kingdom. When that time comes, I’ll stop by this village again, so don’t cry. You’re a boy, aren’t you? Set won’t like you if you keep crying like that.」
「Ugh……really?」
Rei nodded as Apika asked with tears in his eyes.
That seemed to finally convince him. Apika used his small body to hug Set to the fullest.
「Set, take care. Let’s play again.」
「Guru~」
Hearing Set’s cry, he let go before hugging Rei next.
Even though Rei wasn’t the tallest person around, he was still quite tall compared to a five year old. Rei stroked Apika’s head and spoke as Apika clung tightly to his waist.
「Take care of yourself.」
「Mm-!」
Apika nodded at Rei’s words with a smile that made Rei wonder if he had really been crying just a moment ago. Next, Apika ignored Theorem……and went to hug Vihera.
For a moment, Ruchard, who was watching, looked a little envious. But, for better or worse, Vihera was now wearing a robe, so her usual sensual appearance could not be seen.
As for why Apika didn’t seem to care much for Theorem, it was because he barely had any contact with him.
After hearing about the situation with Elk from Rei, Theorem had spent his time training up to the point Daska’s group had arrived in order to survive..
Theorem’s favourite longsword had been broken in the fight with Elk, so the one at his waist was one Rei had just taken out from the Misty Ring.
As a longsword that had been taken from bandits, there was no doubt it was of cheap and inferior quality.
Theorem had wanted a slightly better longsword than it, but all Rei had in the Misty Ring was a large number of broken spears for throwing, the Thorns Spear, a magic weapon, or some expensive spears he had bought on a whim.
There was no way Rei would lend the magic weapon, at most he would give Theorem one of the expensive spears. But, after hearing Rei’s price, Theorem declined the offer.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t use spears, but Theorem preferred swords and was also better at wielding them.
In the end, his only choice was a sword that had been taken from bandits.
「……Alright, let’s head off!」
As if waiting for Apika to finish his farewells……no, Daska was actually waiting for Apika to finish his farewells, he gave the order from the window of his carriage.
Hearing Daska’s voice, Rei climbed onto Set’s back while Vihera and Theorem got on horses.
Seeing that, Daska gave one last glance towards Ruchard before shouting again.
「Depart!」
With those words as a signal, the carriage began to move forward.
As the carriages advanced along the road that led to the village, the farmers harvesting wheat in the neighbouring fields bowed their heads as they passed by.
Seeing the villagers act like that, the knights, attendants, and carriage drivers suppressed their smiles as they left with the manners of a noble.
「Nii-chan, nee-chan, Set! Come again!」
Hearing the tearful cry from behind, Rei responded by waving his hand lightly without turning around.
Vihera did so as well as she waved from her horse.
Thus, Daska and Vihera’s groups joined up as they made their way towards the Selemus Plains.
「It’s still as bleak as ever.」
The person who muttered that was one of the knights guarding Daska’s carriage.
The knight, one of Daska’s men, had also participated in the Spring War and it was his first time returning to the vast Selemus Plains in several months.
However, the surroundings didn’t seem to have changed at all despite the passing of several months, unintentionally causing the knight to say those words, which could be taken as a complaint of sorts.
Even in the eyes of the other knights, the environment they could see seemed no different from Spring.
Of course, there were some slight differences. The grass was growing much more magnificently than back in spring, various animals were lying around……and what appeared to be human bones.
But, overall, it didn’t look like much had changed from spring.
「……Wait, those bones don’t belong to an undead, do they?」
One of the knights muttered involuntarily when he saw the bones on the ground.
The Selemus Plains, which had been the stage of many wars between the Mireana Kingdom and Bestir Empire, was also known for its large numbers of undead.
「It should be fine. There’s no way for undead to do anything under this sunlight.」
The person who responded was Rei, riding on Set.
Despite how close Set was, the knight’s warhorse didn’t seem particularly frightened.
The warhorses the knights rode had been trained for war environments and, at the same time, it was proof of the knights’ sufficient skill in controlling their horses.
「I see. ……Well, even if there are undead, it will be fine with Set and you here.」
「I hope so. Rather than that, the bigger problem will be night time. Of course, we’ll have to spend several nights on the plains, won’t we?」
The knight nodded with a bitter expression at Rei’s words.
「Yeah. Honestly, I’m not too happy with having to camp here.」
Even as he said that, his bitter expression faded as his gaze shifted from Rei to Set.
「Guru~?」
Noticing someone looking at him, Set gave a cry as if to ask if anything had happened.
「But this time, we have Set. There’s nothing better at protecting us against monsters when it comes to camping out.」
「I won’t deny that. There are various problems when camping out with large numbers of people, like during the Spring War, but with the number of people we have, there shouldn’t be any problems.」
Isn’t that right? Rei asked with his eyes as he looked at Set. Of course! Set seemed to say as he gave a cry in response.
The knight let out a sigh of relief as Rei spoke up again.
「However, that’s only with regards to ordinary monsters, no undead. Undead have no sense of fear or anything similar, so please don’t let your guard down too much.」
As they conversed, the carriages continued to advanced through the Selemus Plains, taking a short break for lunch before moving on.
「Seeing the plains spread out like this, it must be a good place to build a settlement.」
Despite the gradual change towards autumn, the summer sun was still quite harsh.
Rei muttered as he glanced over at the carriage driver and escorting knights, who glared at the sun with displeasure.
Vihera and Theorem were also exposed to the direct sunlight, but they seemed to just endure it, faint sweat being the only sign visible on their faces.
This was just evidence demonstrating their physical superiority compared to ordinary knights.
As Rei thought of that, Vihera, who had heard Rei’s earlier words to himself, rode up next to Set before speaking.
「Yes, this land is plain with fertile soil. Water is not an issue either. That is why the Bestir Empire and Mireana Kingdom have been fighting here for so many years, both refusing to hand the land over to the other.」
「But now, there is the problem of the Undead, as this is the only place were wars have been fought between the two countries for many years. Even if either side were to give up their claim of the land, it wouldn’t be possible to settle it without a lot of difficulty. Unless all the settlers are adventurers, people with a certain level of combat skill……or some other special case.」
The knights who were listening in from nearby nodded at Theorem’s words, who had spoken after moving up beside Vihera.
「It certainly would be difficult to settle the Selemus Plains without something like that. ……But, well, I’m not sure if we could realistically do that. No, if we wanted to do it as a country, it would be possible, but the benefits would be too little for the price.」
The knight who spoke held almost no animosity towards Theorem.
Unlike Elk, they hadn’t been directly harmed by Theorem’s plan, and the fact that Neutrals also barely had any contact with Theorem’s men during the Spring War also played a part.
No, rather, there were quite a number of knights who wanted to talk with Theorem since he was a general with a famous title, even if he was from the Bestir Empire.
「I see. Cultivating the land, taking care of livestock during the day, keeping watch at night. If it were only for a few days, I wouldn’t mind, but I wouldn’t want to settle down in such a place.」
Hearing what the knight and Theorem had to say, Rei muttered to himself in agreement.
(If you wanted to build a town or village here……the only option would be to send a large number of soldiers and adventurers and build a wall immediately, like how Gilm was settled.)
Rei thought about that in his mind. But, the only reason it had been possible with Gilm was because it was on the frontier.
Due to its remote location, there were rare monster materials, minerals, and medicinal herbs, all of which were extremely beneficial.
However, while the Selemus Plains had fertile land, it wasn’t as unique as Gilm.
The Mireana Kingdom still had a lot of land it could cultivate and those lands didn’t have undead wandering around like the Selemus Plains either.
Considering that, the Selemus Plains weren’t a place they would go to such lengths to settle.
However, in terms of national defense, it would be an issue if the Bestir Empire took control of it.
On the Bestir Empire’s side, they wanted this land as it was connected to the Mireana Kingdom, which had sea access.
But, if asked to deal with the undead that appeared night after night, the Bestir Empire didn’t have a lot of options either. ……In the end, there was almost a tacit agreement between both parties to use the land as a sort of buffer zone.
(Because it was the stage for war and battles for so many years, the resentment and bitterness left behind has just built up over time, increasing the number of undead again and again.)
Rei thought about that as he watched the sun start to set.
Comments