I'll go with you.

　The envelope Kirill was handed by Marida.
　Ardis read the card in it and pondered something for a while.

　But eventually, her expression hardens as if she has made up her mind, and she suddenly offers to accompany Kirill.
　You will be able to find out the best way to get the most out of your time with the help of a great deal of people and also the money to pay for a bodyguard. I have an errand to run in the city-state federation," he said and pushed it through.

　The Union of City-States, located in the west of the Kingdom of Naglas, is not strictly speaking a state.
　In fact, it would be more accurate to say that it is an alliance of various small and medium-sized city-states that have formed an alliance.

　Each city-state is individually crowned as a king and rules without interfering with other cities.
　For this reason, the name "City-State Alliance" is recognized as a national name by those in the Kingdom of Naglas, but to those in the City-State Alliance, it is more of a regional name, or the name of a camp to which a nation belongs, rather than a national name.

　Kirill's hometown, the city-state of Leitin, is located in the most eastern part of the City-State Alliance.
　The city-state is sandwiched between the cities of the Union of City-States and Gran, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nagras, and as the eastern gateway to the city, it has developed as a transit point for trade with the Kingdom of Nagras.

　The distance from the capital to Leytin is about three days for an adult.
　I'm not averse to the fact that Leitin is connected to the capital by a road, and the surrounding area is not bad.

　But that was only in comparison to other places, and there was a risk of encountering wild thieves and dangerous beasts.
　A child like Kirill would not normally think of traveling alone without an escort.

　That's why Aldis's offer was something he didn't wish for.
　But when I asked the reason for that, all I got from Ardis was an incomprehensible "don't worry about it" or "it's for my convenience".

　Kirill is only reassured by having a mercenary like Ardis accompany him.
　However, no matter how much, it is a convenient development for him, and if the trigger for that is the envelope he had in his possession, it is only natural that he feels somewhat creepy.

"I'll take care of it this evening.

　Saying that, Aldis takes care of the sword he found in the ruins.

　Kirill, who rested his body overnight in a warm bed for the first time in a long time, left the royal capital with Ardis the next morning.

　According to Ardis, the odd-shaped human figure appeared last night as well.
　The reason why the scream-like voice of the human form didn't echo in the inn is because it was purposely moved to a deserted area in the middle of the night to repel it.

　Kirill felt sorry for only putting the burden on Aldis.
　In his mind, there was always a conflict between a pitying sense of helplessness and an unearthly pride that did not want to admit it.
　It seemed cheap to say thank you, but that didn't mean he could repay Ardis in any other way.

The reason I'm going to Leytin is simply for my own reasons. It's also an incidental part of the request to take down the guy.

　Ardis senses this kind of helplessness without a doubt.

　She is dressed in a slightly short wisteria robe and has a violet-colored cloth wrapped around her forehead.
　He was about fifteen years old. He has just come of age and would normally be treated as a child.
　But his demeanor was full of confidence, and his words were backed by a firm will.

　Despite his very common and ordinary appearance, even his dark-eyed black hair seemed to give Kirill a sense of security.
　Though their ages were only three or four years apart, the person in front of him had a calm atmosphere, as if he had lived for decades.

　When I am the same age as Ardis, will I have the same depth of nostalgia as he does?
　I've been thinking about this while Kirill is walking ahead of me, following Aldis' back as he quickens his pace.




　The day after Kirill and the others left the royal capital.

　When they were almost to the border, they turned off the road and headed north.
　They had a request from an official named Jean in King's Landing.

　The request was to defeat him. It seems that the target of the request is the demon that appears at the water's edge.
　In a village near the border, its appearance was confirmed about five days ago. This was back when Kirill and the others were still in the Caucasus Forest.

　The villagers had gone out fishing as usual when they arrived at a nearby pond and noticed a purple creature floating above the water.
　At first the villager rubbed his eyes as if it was some kind of illusion, but when he caught sight of the creature, he began to wince.

　What the villagers saw was a demon called "Issei".

　It was a huge sphere reminiscent of blue ore, with purple flesh wrapped around it, and only one part of it was exposed on the surface, like an inorganic eye.
　Twelve tentacles stretched out from the lump, which I don't know whether it was the head or the body, toward the water, and at the tip of the tentacles were suckers for capturing its prey.
　A purple lump with twelve strands hanging from it. It was a demon of such a shape, to put it simply.

　The villagers cowered and crawled back to the village, taking great care not to be noticed by the demon.
　The whole village was in an uproar when they heard the report.
　That's because the False Saint was such a dangerous demon.

　If on the grasslands, there was a dispenser that was named after the despair, then at the water's edge, the top of the ecosystem was this "foreign sage".
　Their abilities are as good as those of the dispersers, and they are even more troublesome demons to fight against in the water and on the water.

　It's not surprising, but ordinary villagers can't stand up to them, and even mercenaries who fight for a living would be beaten back with ordinary skills.

　The chief of the village immediately turned to his contacts to ask for help from the capital, but the capital was in the midst of an unprecedented economic boom due to the development of the newly opened heavy iron mines in the north.
　All over King's Landing, horse-drawn carriages would carry people and materials northward and bring back ores and lumber from the north.

　Naturally, it was necessary to secure the escorts and the area around the heavy iron mines, and part of the royal army was assigned to protect them.
　Of course, that was not enough to cover a vast area of land.
　In order to cover the shortage of guards, mercenaries were recruited under unimaginably favorable conditions, and the skilled mercenaries were heading north in droves, eager to earn their keep.

　In addition, not a few men have been dispatched to investigate the small island where the Four Feathers demon was holding territory, and to seize the fort where the Red Eater was nesting.

　The fishes from the pond are an important source of food for the village.
　If the situation continued as it was, it could lead to food shortages.

　Needless to say, Jean, who had been running around trying to somehow bring back the mercenaries from the north, was delighted to see Aldis return.
　As soon as he met Aldis, he offered him the unbeatable condition of two gold coins, which was the best proof of all.

　In the end, Aldis accepted the request because it coincides with his goal of going to Leytin.

'It's about time we saw the village in question: ....... Are you tired, Kirill?

No, I'm fine.

　It took about thirty minutes to walk off the road and along the country roads.
　Kirill and the others finally began to see their destination village.

　From a distance, it looked like a very ordinary village.
　The wooden houses were sparsely built and surrounded by a simple fence.

　Kirill and the others who entered the village from the main entrance felt uncomfortable with the atmosphere around them.

''Nobody's ...... here, right?''

Too quiet. ......

　Even though it was a remote village in a deserted area, it was strange to think that not a single sound was heard.

The whole village has already been evacuated, hasn't it?

That's the problem.

　Ardis was about to answer Kirill's question when they heard a loud noise in their ears.
　It was a sound like wood being forcibly smashed.
　And it was a faint human scream.