Chapter 5: Chapter 5

It took about four hours on foot to reach Leaf Village from the cabin where Shan was staying.

Considering that all the other villages in this vicinity were located much farther apart, this could easily be considered a neighbor.

That was also why the vigilantes had stepped in for the tragedy of the neighboring village.

A significant portion of the slain people of Mountain Shade Village were friends or relatives of the villagers here.

Thanks to that, Shan, who had departed early in the morning, was able to safely enter Leaf Village by the time the sun hung high in the sky.

“Oh.”

Perhaps because it was not yet harvest season, the wheat fields spreading around the village were overall bluish-green.

But Shan could easily imagine the landscape dyed in golden hue.

Even though he had never learned proper farming, sowing seeds, plowing fields, and harvesting as instructed were tasks he had done every year.

Curious about how plump the grains of wheat in this neighborhood were, he was cutting off a few stalks to examine them when an irritated shout echoed from a distance.

“Hey! What are you doing right now! You’re trampling all over our precious wheat!”

A young man who looked about five or six years older than Shan, at an age just transitioning from boyhood to young adulthood, approached with a frown.

But a moment later, the man froze upon catching sight of Shan, who had been obscured by the wheat field.

A young boy armed with a sword, a mace, leather armor torn here and there, and a short spear…

“Hello. Some food…”

“Uaaaaah!”

With a scream of “It’s a little demon!”, the man fled toward the village without caring about trampling the wheat field, unlike just a moment ago.

It seemed to be a face he had not seen when fighting last time, so it appeared the survivors who had returned had spread Shan’s infamous reputation far and wide.

Scratching his sideburns in embarrassment, Shan soon approached the village’s wooden palisade.

Whether alerted by the young man who had run away first, the villagers had gathered regardless of age or gender, holding anything that could serve as a weapon.

‘Even so, it wouldn’t be difficult, but…’

Shan discerned that deep terror was dwelling in the gazes of the people looking at him.

If he cut down just the front few people, everyone else would probably scream and run away.

That had been the case even with a group composed entirely of sturdy men, so there was no need to speak of a crowd mixed with women, children, and the elderly.

This was true even for those who had not experienced his skill firsthand.

This was because the returned survivors had exaggerated Shan’s power even more to justify their own terror.

Stopping at a position where he would not be surrounded too deeply, Shan bowed his head slightly to greet Chief Orgo standing in front.

“Hello.”

“It has been a while, Sir Knight.”

The villagers whispered at the sight of the chief bowing low, but Orgo did not mind.

This was because he knew full well that whatever reason that young boy had visited for, if things went wrong, everyone present here would easily be killed.

“May I ask what business brings you to our village?”

“I need something to eat.”

“I will have it prepared right away.”

Shan, who was about to say he had some valuable items if payment was required, stopped short with an “uh” at Orgo’s answer.

If it was like this, since he hadn’t made a threat yet, was it not extortion?

But it didn’t seem like that man was giving it to him just because he liked him.

Still, handing over payment when they offered it for free felt like taking a loss, so after pondering for a moment, Shan nodded.

Well, all’s well that ends well, wasn’t it?

Since it was a large village, they must be giving it because they had plenty of food to spare.

Before long, several villagers brought over a mountain of food supplies packed in multiple sacks.

Barley, flour, dried meat, cheese and butter, vegetables, fruit, salt, and various spices…

Shan, who was standing quietly watching this, pointed his finger at the grains and spoke.

“I don’t know how to make bread, so instead of flour and barley, please bake it into bread. And by any chance, does anyone know how to start a fire?”

“A fire…?”

“Yes. I tried to start one, but it didn’t work out very well.”

How to start a fire… unless one was a beast, that was something everyone ought to know.

Thinking so and looking at Shan with absurd disbelief, a few villagers flinched and lowered their eyes when they met his green eyes.

Although it was still midday, the sky was overcast with thick clouds, so Shan’s eyes were glowing faintly.

Orgo was also taken aback, but he did not show it outwardly.

“Well, that is not difficult, but…”

A short while later, Shan came to learn that to start a fire, one could not just use any random stone, but had to strike flint such as quartz against iron, and that tinder was required to catch the resulting sparks.

This was knowledge an ordinary village child would have learned long ago from their parents, but for an Altoan orphan, it was a trick he had no way of discovering on his own.

“Oh, now I can roast and eat the meat I hunt too. Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

“But there’s so much food that it’s going to be a bit tough to carry back.”

Although Shan could move his body properly to exert greater strength than others, that did not mean he could exert strength like a giant Herculean man.

To take all the supplies that several adult men had grunted and set down, he would have to go back and forth for days.

“Then we will even help you move the goods.”

“That’s too much trouble. Just give me something like a cart.”

“A… a cart is…”

Considering that the value of a single cart made by a proper carpenter was by no means small, it was a painful loss, but Orgo dared not answer ‘No’.

How could he dare, when even now, several days later, the sight of that boy smiling like a demon while slaughtering the villagers remained so vivid?

While he nodded while crying bloody tears inside, Shan thought of demanding livestock to pull the cart, but refrained.

Not to mention horses or oxen, even a donkey was a precious asset in a farming village.

Though in truth, it was because he lacked the confidence to raise an animal.

“Thank you, I’ll enjoy the food!”

“May good fortune in battle attend your future, Sir Knight.”

It meant ‘please go fight somewhere and drop dead’, but Shan, unaware of such malice, smiled brightly and waved his hand.

Seeing as it sounded like a grand phrase, it must be some good wish, right?

*

Bringing food periodically from Leaf Village, there was now nothing left to disturb Shan’s peaceful daily life.

One of his new hobbies was practicing the fire-starting skill he had learned this time, and since it was unexpectedly not easy, it required quite a bit of patience.

“Phew, phew.”

He had to spark the embers created by scraping metal against quartz precisely onto the tinder, and before the caught spark died out, quickly insert firewood to build up the fire…

Unlike fighting, the fact that he could not just do it roughly as he pleased made it even more fun.

Ever since he became able to light fires like this, he hunted the beasts of the forest more actively than before.

As he continued to practice archery, he could now hit moving targets fairly well, so the beasts of the forest met with mass slaughter, and Shan was able to roast and eat fresh meat.

“Wow…”

On the day he ate roasted rabbit meat for the first time, Shan ended up shedding tears of emotion.

Was it not a taste beyond comparison with the scraps he had scavenged back when he lived as a village laborer, not to mention the dried meat he had received from Leaf Village?

Of course, since it was tough game meat with spices sprinkled at random and poorly roasted, it was objectively not delicious cuisine, but perhaps because the sentiment of eating food he had cooked himself for the first time was added, it felt to Shan like an incomparable delicacy.

Naturally, taking the past event as a lesson, he did not learn anything like ‘I must save food and make plans so food doesn’t run out’.

Because if food ran short, he could just go to the village and get more again.

Binging every day as he pleased, Shan digested it by running around the neighboring mountains and fields to his heart’s content, just as he always did.

Most of it was consumed as energy during that process, but the remaining portion alone lodged in his body and brought about changes.

On his body, which had been scrawny with nothing but bones when he first settled here, thin but tough and firm muscles like wire attached themselves, and his height, which used to be half a head shorter than children his age, also shot up rapidly.

Naturally, this soon led to an improvement in athletic ability.

“Oh.”

Clearing the stream with a single light leap, Shan realized this leap in ability and smirked.

Clearly, until not long ago, he had been unable to jump across here and had splashed right in.

It was not just his jumping power that had changed.

His stamina, which had not been particularly outstanding despite moving more efficiently than others, increased several times over, and even though his body weight became half as heavy again as before, he gained enough physical strength to still climb trees lightly like a monkey.

This meant that he was now able to swing weapons stronger and faster.

Bang! Swinging his axe once to fell a tree thicker than his thigh, Shan clicked his tongue upon realizing the axe blade had been crushed.

To think it would break already, even though it was an item he had brought from the village not long ago.

“It’s too weak…”

Back when he was skinny and weak, he hadn’t known, but looking at it now, weapons made of iron were not as sturdy as he had thought.

At least the bandit leader’s sword was holding up to some extent.

If he had a somewhat better weapon, he felt he could cut through rocks with a single swing.

Then wouldn’t he be able to slice right through those iron-clad monsters called knights as well?

“Should I ask the people of Leaf Village to get me one?”

While Shan sat down in the middle of the forest thinking of the magic sack that produced whatever he asked for, they too were talking about Shan.

“Chief, just how long must we be extorted?”

“We cannot keep enduring these losses continuously.”

For the past few months, the people of Leaf Village had been exploited by a little demon residing in Mountain Shade Village to the south.

Despite his small stature, that bastard devoured more food than three or four healthy adult men, and only the highest quality items at that.

As time passed, gaining weight and growing taller from the food he devoured, demanding even larger quantities was an added bonus.

On top of that, lately he kept demanding tools like axes and scythes, so for Leaf Village, where ten able-bodied men had already been killed or maimed, its back was bound to break.

At the complaints of the village influentials, Chief Orgo let out a deep sigh and spoke.

“What can we do? It is not as if we can rise up saying we cannot live like this. Nor can we borrow the Lord’s army.”

About two months ago, a couple of wounded vagrants appeared at a place a short distance from Leaf Village.

In a half-crazed state, they mumbled ‘The green-eyed demon is coming’, and during interrogation, confessed that their true identity was mercenaries instructed by someone’s request to wipe out several nearby villages without a trace.

Upon this, Baron Mahsel, the lord ruling the vicinity, escorted them away and confined himself to his castle.

Even to appeals asking for an army to defeat the young Altoan bandit, he merely sent back the response, ‘Restrain yourselves’.

Though they did not know the details, it was clear that the identity of the bandits had exerted a major influence on the lord.

In this situation, what could the villagers possibly do?

The story of the ‘green-eyed demon’ who had single-handedly slaughtered a powerful mercenary band had already spread publicly, causing passing mercenaries and fixers to flee as well.

If he was strong enough to slaughter over a dozen properly armed mercenaries alone, even considering exaggeration, he was a monster comparable to a decent knight, so it was a natural reaction.

Right around the time the village influentials were letting out sigh after sigh, someone urgently opened the door and entered.

“Ch-Chief!”

“What is it?”

“Th-There is someone willing to accept the request to subjugate the demon…!”

The influentials of Leaf Village hurriedly ran to the village’s sole inn and tavern.

“Where, where is he?”

“Over there.”

The person occupying a table in the tavern was clearly a skilled warrior just by looking at him.

Was his age perhaps around thirty?

With his tall stature, broad shoulders, muscular build, thick beard covering from his sideburns down to his chin, and a rugged face with bold features, he was the picture-perfect image of a battle-tested warrior itself.

On top of that, although it was not the plate armor used by knights, he wore mail armor made of metal chains, metal gauntlets, and boots, with a mace at his waist and a long stick with an unusual tip slung across his back.

Perhaps not using edged weapons was due to confidence in his tremendous physical strength.

Orgo cleared his throat with a few coughs and then quietly stepped closer.

Sensing this, the man furrowed his brows and asked.

“What is it?”

“Excuse me. I am Orgo, the chief of this village, and I heard you are accepting the request to subjugate the bandit…”

“That’s right.”

“May I ask your name and house?”

“I don’t know how the person who asked earlier conveyed it, but I am not a knight. I am merely a wanderer from Pendia. Call me Roden.”

Pendia was a country located to the east of the Libert Kingdom where they were born and raised.

Although this was the northeastern region so the distance was not particularly far, if he could travel alone in a foreign country and protect himself, he was sure to be a capable man.

Moreover, judging by the quality and finish of the metal alone, the armor he wore was not at a level that a mere drifter could possess.

Seeing that it fit his large frame perfectly, it could not have been stolen from somewhere either.

With a much brighter face, Orgo smiled and spoke.

“Understood, Sir Roden. Then does that mean you are willing to… accept our request?”

“I heard it’s just a single child.”

“As you may have heard, he is no ordinary child. He is an Altoan. What’s more, he is a fellow who destroyed an entire mercenary band by wielding tremendous demonic power. Several of our villagers were harmed as well. Around here, he is called the green-eyed demon.”

If he wanted to reduce the commission fee, it would be better to downplay the target’s strength, but the chief intentionally stated the fellow’s abilities without reservation.

This was because, thanks to his firsthand experience facing him, he knew that the boy’s appearance was more than enough to make an opponent lower their guard, and that such carelessness would return as a devastating blow.

If this wandering knight attacked and lost, then confessed that the client was Leaf Village, what state would this village be in?

“Enough. That so-called demonic power of the Altoans is all superstition. At any rate, I accept the request.”

“Then the reward…”

“What reward for driving out a single kid?”

Apparently, this knight seemed to be the embodiment of true chivalry, rare in recent times.

Seeing as he looked tremendously wealthy from his attire alone, it might just be that generosity comes from a full granary.

Still, it was truly a relief that they were able to save thirty gold coins that the villagers had painstakingly gathered despite their poor circumstances.

However, the one thing that bothered him was that no matter how he looked at it, the man did not seem to take that demonic power seriously.

That was why Orgo risked being rude and strove several times to engrave the fellow’s strength into his mind.

For if this knight were defeated and survived to confess that the client was Leaf Village, there would be nothing more terrible than that.

“I’ll be back.”

While Roden left the village, all the people of Leaf Village closed their eyes and clasped their hands in prayer.

Goddess, please protect that knight and grant him victory over the evil Altoan demon.

*

A cabin in a corner of Mountain Shade Village.

Shan, who had been playing to his heart’s content and idling at home as usual, raised his body at an unfamiliar sound coming from far away.

A sound he had never heard before, of something clanking rhythmically as metal interlocked with metal…

Stepping outside, he could tell what it was.

A burly man clad head to toe in garments of metal was clearly a knight he had only heard about in stories.

The knight, who was standing still looking down at Shan, spoke in a low voice.

“So you are the young Altoan who goes around terrifying and plundering the people of this neighborhood.”

“No.”

Shan immediately denied the knight’s question.

It was not particularly because he was scared, but because he genuinely had no awareness that he had plundered anyone.

“Honestly, I did think that if I had no way to make a living I might have to become a bandit, but thankfully the people from the nearby village sent me food, so I’m getting by.”

“Extorting goods without offering anything in return is what we call being a bandit.”

“Then is the church a bandit too?”

“That’s a donation, so it’s a different story…”

Rambling on, the knight soon let out a heavy sigh.

“If you intend to waste time talking nonsense, it is useless. I do not believe in absurd tales like the demonic power of Altoans. If you disarm quietly and follow me, I will be lenient. If the villagers try to harm you, I will protect you, and I can even introduce you to a proper place to work.”

“I can’t do that.”

For Shan, being told to disarm meant a return to the past.

A life of the weak, having to endure all kinds of insults and violence without even minimum dignity or freedom.

If someone tried to plunge him into such a pit, Shan would kill them without hesitation even if that opponent were his returned birth parents.

As Shan drew the sword at his waist, the knight also hardened his grim face and gripped the staff slung across his back tightly with both hands.

“So you made that choice in the end… This is your final warning. Once swung, my flail cannot be stopped mid-way.”

The knight’s weapon resembled a flail commonly found in farmhouses.

A chain was attached to the end of a long staff, and a short iron-shod stick was connected to it; apparently, his style of attack involved swinging that back and forth.

That the name of that weapon was a flail was something he learned for the first time now, but he could guess that it would be quite useful in a one-on-one duel.

At the very least, its reach would be much longer than the one-handed sword and axe he held, and judging by the wielder’s build, its destructive power would be enough to break bones wherever it hit.

‘I’m nervous…’

A fight against a knight, something he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

Wondering just how much power the highest-ranking warriors appointed by kings and nobles possessed, Shan felt expectations even while feeling nervous.

‘Will my skill really work against a knight?’

As he heightened his concentration, his expanded senses alerted him to every minor physical change in his opponent.

A subtle tremor transmitting from his feet up through his legs and across his whole body.

Perhaps it was the precursor to a hidden technique used only by knights, unknown to him.

After being tensely guarded for a moment, Shan quietly peered at his opponent’s expressionless face.

The knight’s eyes were aimed not at Shan, but at the tip of the sword he held.

Just in case, as he lightly waved the sword, the knight’s focus shook frantically following it.

The gaze that had been exceedingly fierce just a moment ago now looked like a rabbit facing a predator.

‘Could it be…?’

One step, two steps.

Shan, who had quietly closed the distance, stopped right before reaching the flail’s reach, then stomped one foot and thrust his sword forward.

“Whoa!”

“Ugh!”

Clatter! The knight threw away his flail and fell flat on his backside.