I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword

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18th Chapter

“Teleport!”

The space twisted, and a new landscape captured my gaze.

Finally, it was the Village of Lujou.

“……Oh my.”

Under the vast scene of the village, everyone was left speechless.

“Raisi…”

Someone called out to a god, but there was no response. It felt as if the benevolent sun god had turned his back on this place, leaving only silence in its wake.

It was harder to find a standing building than a collapsed one. The air was thick with the smell of blood and ashes, and the ruins covered in white snow were pitiful.

It appeared as though something enormous had trampled over everything.

It was a space where it was hard to believe that living beings were still alive.

“Are you the extermination party?”

As everyone lost their words and scanned the area, a group came rushing in from one side of the ruins. An elderly man, who seemed to be their leader, prostrated himself on the ground.

“Please, get up, elder!”

“Thank you, thank you so much! We thought we were all going to die!”

The old man’s cheeks were gaunt, and his body was so thin that bones were visible. Everyone struggled to find words as their faces were drawn tight in pain.

‘This must be the first time for the knights from the capital to see such a scene.’

Since the capital, far removed from the North, had never experienced a monster invasion, monsters were nothing but stories from a distant land for them. It was only natural they would be shocked to find a village destroyed by monsters.

In the midst of the heavy silence, I, the only calm one, observed the state of the village.

‘Well, at least there are quite a few intact buildings. There are some people capable of fighting. They have weapons too.’

I looked around the village once, then glanced at the gathered crowd. The village still retained its original color, and the men appearing like guards were all holding weapons.

‘This isn’t the worst-case scenario.’

Having seen cases where a village was turned into a complete ruin with not a single stone atop another due to a monster invasion, I wasn’t shocked.

This was a situation I was somewhat familiar with, part of my life.

“The floor is wet. Please get up.”

I reached out and helped the old man to his feet and briefly bent my waist.

“I am Mir, the mercenary you summoned.”

A stir arose among the gathered crowd.

“……Mir? Are you the renowned mercenary Mir?”

“Did Mir really come?”

A dozen thin men whispered in astonishment. I nailed it in for them as they looked at me with disbelief.

“I am Mir of the Golden Shield mercenaries.”

I had heard that there were quite a few mercenaries who would misuse my name, but it was impossible to forge such a notable title as the Golden Shield. The elder, gripping my hands tightly, had tears in his eyes.

“Thank you! Thank you so much for coming! We thought we would all freeze to death this winter…… but Mir has come, and I feel at ease!”

From the elder’s face, I felt both relief and a heavy burden. Ever since I earned the title of a hero, it felt like I carried lives on my shoulders. The expectations and trust directed at me shouldn’t touch me anymore, but still, it was heavy. Sometimes, I wished to escape this burden.

“You don’t need to worry anymore. From now on, no one will bleed.”

I will carry this weight. This is the path I have chosen. It was enough for me to bleed.

I barely managed to soothe the elder, who began to cry, and we entered the village. He introduced himself as the village chief, Herbe, and led us to the plaza where the villagers had gathered.

“Oh, Raisi…”

Some knights buried their faces in their hands as they couldn’t bear to witness the scene, while others wiped away tears.

There were perhaps over fifty people gathered, old and young, all bearing terrible wounds, and the nutritional and hygiene conditions of the people were in a critical state.

“Ugh”

It seemed they tried hard not to show it, but ultimately, the expression of Cal, who had turned his head and covered his mouth, bore shock.

‘……This must be the first time he’s seeing something like this.’

Having been born into the Duke’s mansion, he surely hadn’t experienced such a situation before.

Without a word, I took off my cloak and draped it over Cal’s shoulder. The red-eyed gaze directed at me did not linger; I merely focused on the plaza. The wind mixed with snow blowing against my black shirt was particularly cold.

“Our village hasn’t always been like this. It was struggling and difficult due to the monster invasions… but most of it was from small monsters, so we managed to fend them off together. However, this winter has been different! The monsters seem to have gone mad!”

‘War is approaching.’

The rampancy of monsters. It was a phenomenon clearly shown in the original story, resembling the precursor to war. I bit my lip, realizing the impending disaster as I listened to the trembling words.

“Normally, a little scare would drive them away, but now they rush at people like bloodthirsty beasts, invading farms and ravaging crops! Even so, we barely held on… but a week ago, ugh… Debela invaded the village!”

“Debela?”

I frowned. The situation was more serious than I thought.

Debela. A hunting dog crawling from hell. With corpses of dogs infused with demons, it became an undead state, large and with a violent nature.

‘But it’s rather rare to see…’

If there were many instances of Debela, it would have been easy for the ecosystem to collapse and for humans to become extinct, but perhaps due to divine design, it was a rare monster that could only be seen near the furthest North. It was quite rare for Debela to cross over into the Empire.

“Yes! Three Debelas invaded and turned our village into a wasteland! Most of the capable youths lost their lives or got severely injured during the fight, so we are incapable of fighting back right now.”

Herbe’s expression, as he struggled to continue speaking, was tragic. I handed him my sword without a word. The atmosphere became heavy.

“So… please, help us.”

It was a desperate plea.

After the extermination party snapped out of their shock, they moved quickly. The knights distributed supplies and aided in the rebuilding of collapsed buildings while preparing the barracks for our stay. The mages, despite their low magic remaining after teleportation, voluntarily erected defensive barriers around the village.

In the midst of this, I gathered the villagers and started training.

“The moment you encounter a monster, you must never attack first. Right now, you cannot defeat a monster. If you rashly attack, it will only agitate the monster.”

“What should we do then?”

“When you meet a winged monster, jump into the water without hesitation. Winged monsters cannot fly when their wings are wet, so they often avoid water. Monsters that are small in size may not be that dangerous, but many possess poison in their teeth and claws. Antidotes… might be fine if we hunt some nearby monsters, but it’s impossible to eradicate the monster species. Those who live here must coexist with the monsters.”

‘It’s meaningless to tell them how to fight back.’

Most of them barely had the strength to hold a sword. Winning in battle would be akin to a miracle. Utilizing all my experience as a mercenary, I shared how to survive, and even with a diminished number of them, the villagers listened earnestly.

“Where is the young master?”

After finishing the training and helping the knights carry supplies, I took a breath and noticed Cal was missing. Passing by Farve, I inquired, and he pointed to one of the few intact buildings in the village.

“Over there, in the hospital ward for the critically injured.”

‘He seems to have been quite shocked.’

Worried about Cal’s state from a moment ago, I hurried my steps. I opened the door to the small, old building.

The scent of death hung in the air. The smell of antiseptic and blood. A multitude of people, from children to elders, were in pain from their wounds.

‘I thought I was used to this by now…

I held my breath as the scent of death invaded my nostrils. Even now, seeing people die was painful. There were nightmares that arose whenever I thought of death.

A white snow-covered wasteland, with red blood spreading over it.

At the center, me unable to protect something precious.

Just recalling it makes me feel dizzy. I held my breath for a moment, trying to erase those thoughts.

‘Not being numb to death is proof that I am still human.’

Humans begin to turn into monsters when they grow numb to death. I was thankful that I had not yet reached that point. I felt the suffocating air around me.

Inside the darkened hospital, only the moonlight shone. A boy sitting by the window had his unfocused red eyes sparkle in the moonlight.

“•…Young master.”

He was staring at a girl lying on the hospital bed by the window. A young girl who seemed around ten years old, her face half-covered in bandages.

Disasters come regardless of age.

“I had no idea.”

“I didn’t know… it would be this serious. I never imagined monsters could destroy human lives like this. I didn’t know there were still people living like this.”

Cal’s trembling pupils were rapidly shaking. The guilt staining his unfocused eyes was evident.

For a moment, a strangely artificial feeling brushed over me, but I brushed it aside at the sight of his once proud shoulders slumping in sadness.

‘He couldn’t help but be unaware.’

Where there is light, there must also be shadow. However, Cal was someone who had lived his life in the warmest rays of the great Sun Empire. Those who have lived only in the sun often do not know of the existence of shadows.

I stood beneath the pitch-black shadow, looking distantly at Cal, who shone in the light of the moon.

This place, heavy with the scent of death, was not Cal’s world. He could have easily escaped this situation if he decided to.

Yet, confusion filled Cal’s eyes. His coral-colored lips trembled. His fingertips were wandering for answers. The red eyes directed at me were filled with desperation.

Because he did not turn his back on this disaster, seeing it as someone else’s problem, I had no choice but to reach out to him.

“It’s not your fault.”

I firmly grasped his shoulders, declaring towards his wavering pupils. His gaze trembled.

“This is the Duke’s territory, but you are still young. You might not know everything. No one blames you for this, young master.”

I whispered in the warmest voice I could muster. He who had tightly shut his lips and clenched his fist lowered his head.

“……This is my domain.”

“It’s the Duke’s domain, but you are not a Duke yet.”

“I am also part of the Duke’s family.”

“But you are still young.”

“If I had known just a little earlier… perhaps I could have done something.”

His unfocused eyes were tightly shut.

I slowly raised my hand and stroked his hair. It was a serious offense for a commoner to handle a noble’s body, but his eyes, filled with pain, desperately craved warmth, so I chose to share my warmth despite my worries.

“If only” is the deadliest poison. Such baseless hypotheticals slowly kill a human.

All the hypothetical thoughts that burrowed into my flesh and constricted me were ephemeral. In the end, they were illusions that would never be realized. A waste of time.

“What’s important is what happens next.”

The red eyes that had been drifting in the air finally focused on me. I gazed directly into those seeking answers.

“Ignorance is not a sin, but turning a blind eye is a sin. If you come to know, please do not turn away. I hope you will not forget that there are people living beyond the shadows where the sun does not shine.”

My eyes filled with sorrow.

What I had uttered might have been a plea.

Cal is young. He doesn’t yet have to bear any responsibility. However, when the time comes for him to grow up and inherit his title, he will have to choose whether to turn a blind eye to those living in the shadows or to save them.

I hoped that when that time came, he wouldn’t choose to ignore them.

“From now on, please do your best. That will be enough.”

I smiled brightly at Cal. The guilt in his eyes eased, and the wandering pupils found their place. His gaze sharpened as though having found a compass in a vast ocean.

For a moment, I felt a strange malice flash across his face.

Slowly, the calm demeanor Cal typically wore returned as he forced a smile.

“……Will that really be enough?”

Suddenly, I felt he was both young yet mature. He felt delicate enough to be burdened by the pain of others while also showing enough responsibility for that pain. He stood at the boundary between a child and an adult.

‘He’s such a kid.’

Cal is my brother, but no matter how I think about it, he feels more like a younger brother. Imagining the burdens he must bear as a Duke of the Duke’s house, only 19 years old, made me smile bitterly as I gently ruffled his hair.

“That’s enough.”

Cal, who had contorted his face, squeezed my arm tightly and buried his face in my embrace.

I wrapped my arms around his waist without a word.

I could only wish that my other blood relative wouldn’t suffer too much.