After completing their written statements, Desi, Makani, and Kan began heading to the site where the bodies were being recovered.
The sky shone down on them in a miserably clear color.
The wind was so peaceful that it felt alien.
Kan, who had been walking without a word, looked back at Makani and Desi.
“Um... You weren't hurt, were you?”
Kan was the one who should have been hurting most, yet he worried about the others first.
At those words, Makani suddenly burst into tears and pulled Kan into an embrace.
Kan held Makani with trembling hands.
As Makani's tears soaked Kan's shoulder, Kan's own restrained tears broke free.
.
.
.
”When the Orcs attacked, Dad pulled me into an embrace.“
Once he had calmed down, Kan began to speak.
His lips were still trembling, but his eyes seemed full of red, sticky rage.
”An Orc spear came flying and stabbed Dad... Luckily... perhaps because it did not pierce through him, I wasn't hurt, and I fell together with Dad.”
Desi hesitated over how to comfort him in a situation like this.
What could he say to someone who had witnessed a parent's death before his eyes?
And how deep and dark must such pain be?
“I... survived... covered by Dad's corpse.......”
Kan's fist trembled.
He bit his lip, and blood flowed at the corner of his mouth.
The bright sky shone down on his pain and despair.
Makani wiped the tears from Kan's cheek.
“Your father... protected you.”
***
Two months passed after that incident.
All the funerals ended, and Kan's shop stopped operating.
Daily life passed miserably and emptily.
Desi tended the fields, and Makani gathered medicinal herbs.
Word of the Orc terrorist attacks spread quickly through the village, and people's looks toward Orcs sharpened.
It was common to see Orc families being beaten by groups of humans in the plaza.
They cried as they shouted that they were not the ones responsible.
But the anger and hatred that had spread in an instant had long since closed its ears.
Desi kept his mouth shut.
He ground his teeth and could not even swallow his saliva.
At first, when Desi had come to the Otherworld, he had helped up an Orc child who had fallen.
Now, that child lay crying among an Orc family being beaten before his eyes.
After that, Kan spent more time with the patrol guards.
He did not spend time with Desi and Makani.
He only walked with the patrol guards, calluses forming on his hands.
“Uncle Ar says he wants to see us this evening.”
Makani spoke as she crouched beside Desi while he tilled the field.
“Uncle Ar? Ah, the commander-in-chief of the Guard Corps?”
“Yeah... He says he has something to tell us about what happened then.”
Hearing Makani's words, Desi silently continued tilling the field.
No one had been able to easily bring up what happened then.
Because it reminded him of himself—a coward who had felt species discrimination become real and ultimately avoided the child's gaze.
“Guys!!”
Kan's voice came from the distance.
For some reason, his expression was as clear as the sky.
His smile was plainly visible, so Makani and Desi looked at each other in puzzlement.
In one of Kan's trembling hands was a stack of papers.
“Huff... huff... Guys, look at this.”
Panting, Kan handed them the stack of papers.
The rough-to-the-touch bundle of papers was a newspaper that conveyed news from the Otherworld.
At the very top was a red rooster's comb, the mark of the well-known newspaper, the Morning Cockscomb Times.
As Desi and Makani read the Times, their brows trembled.
[War with the Orcs. They deny their horrific transgressions and provoke.......]
An unbelievable headline was printed in the newspaper.
It reported that Orc troops were invading across the border for an all-out war.
There were also reports that Orcs in the territories of various counts and dukes were rising up in revolt and massacring people.
“Th-This.......”
Makani looked back and forth between Desi and Kan with trembling eyes.
But Desi was looking into Kan's eyes.
More precisely, he saw a flickering light.
In Kan's gaze, there was something—not a brilliant light, but a light that seemed to burn.
Kan grinned and raised his voice.
”The war with the Orcs... has begun...!!“
.
.
.
That evening, after the sun had set and the moonlight had grown brighter, Desi, Kan, and Makani headed to Ar's house.
Even as he walked, Kan talked about the war written in the Times.
Words that were hard to bear came from the mouth of Kan, who had once been gentle and affectionate.
That all the Orc bastards had to be killed.
That they had to invade in return and destroy the Orc country of Ragizme.
His voice was high and clear enough to touch the moonlight.
Desi deliberately shifted his gaze and pointed to the mansion in the distance.
“Uncle Ar's house... is incredible?”
It was not quite a grand manor, but it was a mansion that would not be overshadowed even if placed beside one.
Its red color reflected in the moonlight, and it seemed to give off even a faint warmth.
Its five-story height was overwhelming.
Makani walked ahead and knocked on the door. CREAK- The door opened.
“Oh my, Makani, you're here?”
A young woman wearing a white headscarf greeted them warmly.
“It's been a while, Sister Kiria. Ah, this is Desi and Kan.”
Kiria was a woman two years older than Makani who worked at Ar's mansion.
With her long brown hair in disarray beneath a white headscarf, she was not glamorous, but she gave a warm impression.
After greeting them lightly, Kiria led them to the dining table.
”As it happens, we just finished preparing the meal.“
The dining table held many dishes: various meats, soup, bread, and more.
Sweet, mild aromas made them forget the war.
”Welcome.“
At that moment, Ar was coming down the staircase connected to the upper floor.
”For now, let's eat and have a brief conversation.“
His smile was kind, but a strong force could be felt in his voice.
In the awkward silence, only the clatter of cutlery could be heard.
Makani was the first to break the silence.
”Um... Thank you for inviting us to dinner.“
Ar received Makani's words with a kind smile.
“Why did you call us here?”
Kan's direct question.
At that question, Desi watched the others' reactions with a piece of chicken in his mouth.
“Yes... I wanted to talk to you about the previous Orc attack.”
Setting down his spoon, Ar continued.
After the small clatter, the heavy air rang out.
“As you know, this village is in Viscount Seru's territory. I informed Viscount Seru of this first, but.......”
Ar deliberately avoided Kan's eyes, and everyone had probably noticed that fact.
“It seems that delivering the news to the Royal Palace will be delayed somewhat.”
At the end of Ar's words, Kan forcefully set down his fork.
His shoulders trembled slightly.
“Why? They are still looking for the Orc group that escaped, right?!”
At Kan's question, Ar took a sip of water.
“We will search, but do not expect much. Right now-”
Before Ar could finish speaking, Kan struck the dining table.
Desi felt as though he were sitting on a cushion of thorns.
The air was not merely heavy; it stung.
Kan, his hands and body trembling as his face twisted, opened his mouth.
“M-My father was murdered! How can you..!”
Desi and Makani were flustered by Kan's fury, but Ar did not show the slightest sign of wavering.
He looked calm instead.
“I understand, I understand. But you... I do not know whether you have seen the newspaper, but it feels as though war is about to break out.”
War.
At that one word, concern rushed over Desi.
His head lowered on its own.
Because he wanted a peaceful life.
Because that peace was in danger of being broken.
’Still... this place is far from the front lines, so it should be all right, right?’
As though he had read Desi's thoughts, Ar sighed.
“For now, we will pursue the Orcs... but.......”
Ar continued speaking as he looked at Kan.
”But you must know that you may be conscripted into the war.“
”What?!”
Desi was so surprised that he could not read the mood.
”Th-This is a remote rural village. Are they going to forcibly conscript people even this far away?!“
At Desi's words, Ar let out a faint laugh.
It was not a laugh that meant something was amusing or funny.
It was a laugh he forced out from futility and emptiness.
“Yes, I thought so too. But Baron Seru does not seem to intend to remain idle.”
Ar wore a bitter expression.
“Then... they will recruit soldiers here and send them to the Royal Palace...?”
At Makani's words, Ar quietly nodded.
“Yes, I think he sees this incident as an opportunity to report to His Majesty the King... and, further, as an opportunity to join the Twelve Nobles.”
The Twelve Nobles.
In the country of Refko, where Desi lived, there were the Twelve Nobles and the Council of Four Elders.
The Twelve Nobles were the nobles with the greatest influence in the country.
They were also called the Houses of the Twelve Months.
The Council of Four Elders consisted of retainers close to the king, who assisted the royal authority.
“But could sending only a few people get someone into the Twelve Nobles? No... Just for something like that.......”
Makani began to mutter as if she could not believe it.
“Yes, you're right. Sending only a few soldiers would never get someone into the Twelve Nobles.”
Ar paused for a moment.
His jaw visibly twitched.
“But... if he sends even me, a former Aurelia Knight, to the kingdom... it becomes a different matter.”
”Aurelia?!”
Makani answered in surprise.
Desi was also too surprised to say anything.
‘Why is someone so remarkable in a country village.......’
The Aurelia Knights.
Also called the Golden Knights, they were the personal guard unit of the eldest child of the royal family.
They were an elite-only unit and a high-ranking knight order in Refko.
The commander of the Aurelia Knights held a position that could rise to a count at minimum and, if things went well, even to a duke.
“Yes, if he sends me, a former Aurelia Knight, to the kingdom along with a few captured Orcs... there will be quite a large gain.”
“That is why you said they would pursue the Orcs.”
Kan seemed to understand to a certain extent.
However, Desi could not understand what they were talking about.
“Then... did you accept it too, Uncle Ar?”
Desi could not believe that Ar, with that position and experience, would meekly follow such an absurd order.
Even though it meant being dragged into war.
At Desi's question, Ar rubbed his forehead as though his head ached.
”Well, you see... My son says he will go voluntarily. If my son is going, how can I, his father, hide?”
”Ebel?!”
Makani spoke as though she had expected it.
”Yes, Desi and Kan do not know him well, but... Ebel is a species supremacist.“
THUD, THUD.
Someone approached the kitchen with heavy steps.
“Father, I'm back!!”
He was a muscular man with short hair that seemed to mix brown and yellow.
His hearty voice was loud enough to be heard even outside the mansion.
“Ah, Ebel, you're back?”
Leaving Ar's greeting behind, Ebel turned his gaze toward Desi, Kan, and Makani.
“Oh! You're Makani's friends? Nice to meet you! I'm Ebel! Makani, you're pretty today too~”
At Ebel's words, Makani's face twisted as if she had bitten into shit.
“Ebel... It's been a while, haha.......”
Ar cleared his throat and drew their attention.
”This is where the main point begins.“
Ar turned his body toward Kan and Desi.
”You are also eligible for conscription... But at my discretion, I think I can exclude you from conscription. What do you want to do?”
He clasped both hands and placed them on the table.
“It is not compulsory conscription yet; it is a volunteer enlistment system. So it should be possible.”