“Why has everything been so unsettled lately?”
“Hah, it is all because of that damned Civil War.”
Joseph answered Thomas indifferently as he set down his mug of beer.
Was he truly asking because he did not know? Even a woodcutter should have heard the news.
“You mean the Empire’s Civil War? What does that have to do with us?”
At first glance, it was understandable that he might think that way.
What did it matter to Remt Village whether the Empire was embroiled in a Civil War?
From this village situated between the Duchy of Repen and the Kingdom of Arian, the Civil War seemed like a distant affair in a faraway land.
“My goodness, do you truly not know? My friend, do you have any idea how many years the Imperial bastards have been fighting their Civil War?”
“Er… one year?”
“Five years. Five. They have been fighting one another for so long that even hearing about it has become tiresome. Damned fools.”
“So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? The men they conscripted from every corner of the Empire are deserting or scattering after their armies are defeated, and now they are crawling into the North.”
“Ah….”
Just as Joseph had said, the North had become exceedingly dangerous of late.
Not because of monsters, but because of people.
There were constant grim rumors of one village being attacked and another being burned to the ground.
The itinerant merchants who had once visited regularly had stopped coming altogether.
The only merchant caravans still traveling were those accompanied by massive escort forces.
Naturally, such caravans never bothered visiting a village like this one.
Joseph continued complaining.
“Thanks to that, all the itinerant merchants who used to come here have vanished… and the price of wheat has gone mad as well…. What in the world are the kingdom and our lord doing?”
The innkeeper, who had been wiping a mug behind the counter, shouted at him.
“Joseph! Watch your mouth. Did the guards not warn you last time?”
“Those guards are not here right now… Hah.”
Joseph ignored him and took another drink.
Let them hear him if they wished.
“Come to think of it, does having a Guard in our village not make things a little safer?”
“Hah. What can a Guard of barely more than ten men possibly accomplish?”
“Come now. How many bandits could there possibly be? That should be more than enough.”
“You certainly are carefree.”
Joseph had no desire to agree with Thomas’s optimistic assessment.
It sounded foolish.
Not that Joseph himself possessed a better solution.
Then, at that moment—
BANG—!
“Everyone, listen!”
Several guardsmen threw open the inn door and shouted.
“Oh! Guardsmen, forgive me!”
Joseph, frightened before they had even said anything, hurriedly apologized.
However, the guardsmen merely frowned in irritation.
“What are you talking about? Stop spouting nonsense and gather everyone immediately! Every person in here!”
“…What? Has something happened?”
Now that he looked more closely, the guardsmen’s faces were filled with anxiety.
“Bandits. Even a rough estimate puts their number at fifty.”
Thomas and Joseph could only stare with their mouths hanging open.
***
“Th-Those men….”
“Who in the world are they?”
“Are they truly bandits? In broad daylight?”
The men gathered atop the makeshift palisade watched the entrance to the village with anxious eyes.
A group of filthy men dressed in mismatched clothing was approaching the village.
“Quiet! Be quiet!”
“Everyone, shut your mouths!”
The village’s handful of guardsmen attempted to control the frightened crowd, but it was not easy.
“Does anyone know what those men want?”
The Captain of the Guard bit his lip as he questioned the guards around him, but they all shook their heads.
Nevertheless, everyone could guess the answer.
Whatever their purpose was, it could not possibly be good.
“Stop! Come no closer! Who are you?”
Once the group came within a certain distance, the Captain of the Guard shouted.
One of the unidentified men answered.
“We are merely travelers! We wish to rest in your village for a while!”
The shameless lie automatically made the Captain frown.
Some members of the group even snickered at the answer.
Damn them.
“What sort of travelers move in a mob like yours? Stop talking nonsense and leave immediately!”
“It is the truth! We merely happened to meet one another along the road!”
“Turn back, or we will attack!”
When the Captain of the Guard drew his bow and aimed it, the man who had been answering raised both hands and began backing away.
“Wait! Please calm down! If you insist, then we shall leave!”
“…I will count to three. Be gone before I—Guh!”
“Captain!”
An arrow pierced the Captain’s throat as he shouted.
Only then did they notice several men concealed within the group, secretly aiming Crossbows and bows at them.
The man who had been speaking had merely stalled for time while drawing their attention.
When their target fell from a single shot, the bandits erupted into cheers.
“Now that was a fine shot!”
“You killed him in one! Heh heh.”
“Open the gate now, or we will do the same to every last one of you! Open it, you bastards!”
The bandits’ threats threw everyone behind the palisade into confusion.
Most of the defenders had no combat experience whatsoever, so it was only natural.
“Wh-What should we do?”
“Perhaps if we open the gate and surrender….”
“Y-Yes. They said they were travelers, so perhaps they only want to stay for a short—”
The most experienced guardsman after the Captain stopped them.
“Do not be fools! If we open the gate, we will all die! Attack them! Attack!”
Only then did the guardsmen aim their bows, while the village men awkwardly began throwing stones.
Their resistance was pitifully weak.
A few bandits fell after being struck by arrows, but most remained unharmed.
The men at the front had raised wooden shields.
“Grappling Hooks! Hook the palisade and pull it down!”
“Plunder everything!”
The bandits skillfully threw Grappling Hooks onto the palisade and began pulling with all their strength.
Arrows flew without mercy toward anyone who attempted to cut the ropes.
“N-No! Stop them! We have to cut those hooks!”
Despite the veteran guardsman’s desperate cry, the palisade was tilting far too easily.
“I-It is collapsing!”
“Get down immediately!”
The ragtag defenders panicked and rushed down from the palisade.
The structure collapsed a moment later.
“We did it! Get inside!”
“Women! Find the women first!”
“Bring out the liquor! The liquor!”
As the pack of wolves charged in, terror appeared on the faces of the village men.
Unlike the villagers, most of whom had scarcely been in a fistfight, the bandits moved with practiced ease.
“Aaargh! R-Run!”
“Hold them back! Otherwise, we will all—Urgh!”
An axe buried itself in the head of the veteran guardsman as he shouted.
The remaining defenders turned and fled without hesitation.
The village descended into chaos in an instant.
***
“Aaaah! P-Please spare me!”
The young woman’s blonde hair whipped wildly through the air.
“Ha ha ha! How long has it been since I last had a woman?”
A filthy-looking bandit seized the village woman from her hiding place and licked his lips.
She appeared to be younger than twenty and begged him through her tears.
“P-Please do not kill me!”
“Listen to that voice. You are already making my mouth water!”
Exhausted from living on the run for so long, the man seemed unable to restrain himself and began undoing his trousers.
Another bandit stopped him.
“Hey! There is no time for that. Whether it is women or liquor, grab whatever you can and get moving!”
“What? All the men here are either dead or running away. What are you talking about?”
“You idiot! Have you not heard the rumors? The Lion Knights! They are somewhere nearby!”
“The Lion Knights belong to the duchy, do they not? Why would they be in the Kingdom of Arian?”
“How the fuck should I know? We have to leave now, or that bastard they call the Red Wolf might come for us!”
The Red Wolf of the Lion Knights.
It was a name that had recently become quite famous throughout the borderlands between the Duchy of Repen and the Kingdom of Arian.
He was infamous for wiping out the bandits who attacked merchant caravans and villages wherever he went.
According to the rumors, his methods were so brutal that he enjoyed capturing bandits alive and torturing them.
Others claimed that he cut corpses into pieces and used them to decorate his helmet and horse.
There were even stories that he drained his victims’ blood and drank it, or tore out their hearts while they were still alive.
Whatever the truth, he had become an object of terror among the outlaws operating in the region.
“Fuck that! I have been wandering for months, and you expect me to restrain myself because of some absurd rumor?”
“Whether the rumors are true or not, we are leaving now! Stop complaining and follow me!”
“Who the hell are you to order me around—?”
At that moment—
BWOOOOOO—!
The long blast of a War Horn echoed throughout the village.
The bandits roaming about in search of plunder—
And the villagers fleeing in terror—
All turned toward the village entrance.
A moment of silence followed.
“Th-That is…!”
“…D-Damn it! It is him!”
Several dozen knights in silver armor sat astride their horses before them.
Lion emblems were emblazoned upon their breastplates and dark crimson cloaks.
At their head was a red-haired man.
“The Lion Knights!”
“It is the fucking Red Wolf! Run!”
Panic spread through the bandits’ eyes when they saw the subject of the rumors for themselves.
They immediately abandoned all thoughts of plunder and considered only escape.
When the man at the front raised his hand, the knights charged as one.
“R-Run—Aaargh!”
“Guh!”
Javelins and arrows flew from horseback, striking only the bandits with deadly precision.
RUMBLE—!
Merciless hooves descended upon them a moment later.
“Fuck! G-Get out of the way!”
“S-Spare me—Urgh!”
Men struck by the horses flew into the air like popcorn.
That was the better fate.
They would most likely die the instant they struck the ground.
“A-Aaaaaaargh!”
One unfortunate bandit impaled upon a Lance was carried through the air against his will.
His trousers were still hanging halfway down in an obscene state.
He was the same man who had been arguing about assaulting the woman moments earlier.
After being dragged through the air for some time while coughing up blood, his body finally went limp.
“Form up, you bastards! Gather in the narrow streets and form up!”
One of the more experienced bandits seized a wooden shield and shouted.
He was correct that cavalry could not operate effectively within the village’s narrow streets.
After confirming that the man impaled upon his Lance was dead, the red-haired knight hurled the corpse toward the bandits huddled together.
It almost seemed as though he were proudly showing it to them.
“Eek!”
The bandits fell into terror at his complete composure.
Ignoring their reactions, the man slowly dismounted and drew the sword secured to his saddle.
“Greetings.”
“….”
The green-eyed Red Wolf surveyed the flock of sheep cowering before him.
Faced with the abrupt greeting, the sheep could only swallow dryly.
“No answer? How disappointing.”
“….”
Still, no one replied.
“Very well. I will spare the first man who answers me. What do you say?”
“G-Go away, you monstrous bast—Guh!”
A Dagger buried itself in the neck of the sheep who had mustered the courage to shout.
Without the slightest hesitation, the wolf charged through the opening.
“M-Madman!”
“Kill him! Kill that bastard!”
When a wolf leaped into a flock of sheep, which side was supposed to flee?
The wolf?
The sheep?
It was a question that did not need to be asked.
Only the pitiful screams of the sheep echoed through the village.
“Grrk⋯.”
“Aaargh! My arm!”
“R-Run!”
The wolf tore through the flock like a fish in water.
With every step, blood sprayed and chunks of flesh flew.
After several minutes, not a single sheep remained alive.
The wolf stretched as though he had just finished an invigorating exercise.
“…Young Master.”
One of the knights who had dismounted approached him.
“Haa. Yes, Sir Nedain?”
The blood-covered Red Wolf—Glen—answered with a broad grin.