Chapter 36
"...Hah, hah!"
He ran.
His breath was about to give out. His lungs burned.
But the boy kept running, undeterred.
He slipped around a tree in front of him.
The boy was fleeing into the forest.
Hafen Village.
The village near Lyon had been peaceful, untouched by the threat of monsters.
Or so it should have been.
――Until just a little while ago.
"W-Why did this happen...!!!"
As he ran desperately, the boy wondered.
The boy hadn't realized anything was wrong until night fell.
It was true that, for the past week, a nobles' meeting had been held in the nearby city of Lyon, and a rare incident had occurred when a noble young lady stayed in the village... But otherwise, everything had been as usual.
And then, night came.
A little after the villagers had said their farewells to Iris, the noble's daughter who had decided to return to her territory earlier than planned, and she had left, just as the villagers were about to turn in, a strange group appeared.
――Men dressed in black, carrying swords.
Silent.
The group of men, not one of whom spoke, appeared silently, surrounding the village.
They were clearly no ordinary men.
The boy's father, one of the first to notice their menacing air, told him, "You get out of here, at least!!"
He told him to run to the forest behind the village.
In that instant, the boy fled like a hare.
Whether that was the right thing to do, he had no idea.
Perhaps acting quickly had paid off.
The boy had just barely managed to reach the forest behind the village before it was surrounded.
(Why is this happening!!!)
The last thing he saw when he looked back was red flames.
What was happening to the village as it burned?
It seemed a few people had fled the village at the same time, in different directions.
But most of the villagers, including his parents, had been too late to escape.
Fear that his father and mother—or even the entire village—might be lost overwhelmed the boy.
(Someone...!! Anyone...!!!)
The boy ran through the forest without knowing what was going on.
Suddenly, a familiar kind of hero's tale came to mind.
A valiant-looking hero in glittering, beautiful armor saving people in a desperate situation.
Such a fanciful dream.
Under normal circumstances, he would have dismissed it as foolishness, but the boy was so desperate that he wished for that very fantasy with all his might.
Anything would do now.
What about the knights?
For example, Rain, the hero of the Knights who had saved people from countless monsters.
But in his heart, he knew that was impossible.
Lyon was still a long way away.
There was no way the knights would appear so conveniently.
There was no way they would be saved so conveniently.
His prayers would not be answered.
That's right.
If things had gone as they were supposed to.
After this incident, the boy should have been one of the few survivors of Hafen Village, living out the rest of his life with regret.
But,
――Fate crossed their paths.
A dull thud rang out.
It was the sound of the boy colliding with something after briefly taking his eyes off the path ahead to check for pursuers behind him.
"Gah...!"
He collided with something and fell over.
At the same time, he heard someone cry, "Ow!!"
...A voice???
A voice. That meant a person.
Someone was here.
"...!! I-I'm sorry."
As he said that, the boy sprang back up.
His wish had come true.
That's right.
Before him surely stood the Knights' hero, with a valiant face, the image of a pure, righteous, and beautiful ideal hero――
"...Huh?"
"Huh? What's wrong?"
He strained his eyes in the moonlight.
"........................"
The one standing where the boy was staring was an impossibly suspicious-looking man.
Messy hair.
His clothes were ordinary, but the way he wore them sloppily made him look filthy.
And then there was his vulgar way of speaking: "Hey, don't just run into me and then suddenly go quiet, kid."
(I-It's over...)
The boy thought, It's over.
It wasn't as though he truly believed someone from the Knights would come.
But the man before him looked like a complete loser.
Wasn't that just too cruel?
(N-No, wait...)
But the boy reconsidered.
"My name is Matthew!! I'm the village chief's son in Hafen Village up ahead. Someone's attacking the village right now..."
Matthew was desperate.
Honestly, anyone out in this forest at this hour had to be a complete weirdo.
But still, he couldn't let this chance slip away.
If he let this chance pass――
"Please!!! I'll pay whatever I can! Take me with you to the city of Lyon... Huh?"
The boy's words trailed off.
Because the man in front of him—
"All right, so Hafen's this way. Man, what a relief," he said, then started walking off briskly, as casually as if he were going shopping.
Impossible.
No, wait—
"W-Wait a minute!! There were at least forty of them!"
(Is this guy trying to die...?!?! )
The boy desperately tried to persuade him, too.
The man before him looked more like a suspicious bandit than someone from the Knights, but he was still valuable help.
He couldn't let him get away after finding him here.
But the suspicious-looking man merely—
"Oh, is that so? Thanks for the warning," he said, waving a hand casually.
(H-He isn't listening at all...!!!)
The boy felt utterly hopeless.
The fate of the village rested squarely on his shoulders.
And yet, and yet...
It seemed he had managed to find the biggest weirdo of all.
Eventually, the man said, "All right," and started running.
"Oh, come on...!!!"
The boy turned back and chased after the man who had started running.
The pursuers must be close by now. He had to get to Lyon quickly, so why was he doing this?
"Besides, I was being chased, too!! I think there are still pursuers back there!!!"
He said that as he chased after the man.
――But then he noticed something strange.
The man had seemed to start running so casually, but he was shockingly fast on his feet.
In no time at all, he had disappeared from view.
(Who the hell is this guy?!)
Completely baffled, the boy desperately chased after him.
―――――――――――――――――――――
Matthew
→ The handsome son of Hafen Village's chief. A boy with a mop of hair. He was supposed to have a rather tragic fate, but after meeting Enrique by chance, his destiny began to change.
Mysterious man
→ Enrique-san. His original features aren't bad, but he puts absolutely no effort into his appearance, so people often call him "filthy." This is also why the protagonist thought he had to be F-rank at the beginning.