I Became a Hero With a Lot of Experience

44 – 044: The Road to the North (7)

“It’s even worse up close.”

The eerie feeling unique to passing through abandoned apartments at midnight permeated the entire village.

Unlike villages nestled against mountains or vast forests, this village in the fields showed no signs of guarding against wild animals; not a single scarecrow was in sight.

Was that the reason?

Perhaps because there was no room for resistance, the buildings were relatively less damaged, but indelible traces of intense violence were engraved all over the village.

Even on the road where I stood now, just before being dragged away by ghouls, there were visible marks of resistance, the last struggle, scratching the ground with fingernails.

Glancing around, something that could be inferred as fingernail marks seemed to have rolled along the side.

I furrowed my brow, reminded of the scenes from when the Nazis massacred Jews using gas chambers.

“…This village was probably one of the ghoul’s supply sources. (Experience Points: 17)”

“Are there more villages like this ahead?”

Just imagining how many villages and maidens might have disappeared sent a shiver down my spine.

One fortunate thing was that, at least in this village, there would be no ghost of a non-virgin. Unlike the pure souls of virgins not bound by decaying flesh, the souls of non-virgins were naturally expected to be confined even after death.

The souls of non-virgins were incinerated cleanly on the field with my virgin breath, so there would be no ghosts here.

“From now on, choose camping sites avoiding such villages.”

“…Yes. (Experience Points: 17)”

With only moonlight as illumination, the village turned into ruins appeared exceptionally gloomy.

It wasn’t particularly frightening, but it felt somewhat unsettling, as if experiencing a haunted house.

Honestly, I’d prefer to avoid entering the buildings and even staying around here, but it was too late to turn back now.

If I were to ask the non-virgin sorceress for a favor, she could probably conjure up some magical light, but my pride wouldn’t allow me to ask anything from a non-virgin.

Tonight, I had to stay here.

I had planned to quickly set up the tent before it got any later, but when I actually considered pitching a tent next to seemingly intact houses, it felt absurd.

Why pitch a tent outside when there was a house with minimal signs of destruction?

I found the house with the least evidence of damage and turned the doorknob.

“Sir Knight, what are you doing?” the priest asked as I attempted to enter.

“I’m going to rest inside because I don’t feel like setting up the tent.”

“…Understood. (Experience Points: 4)”

She seemed somewhat discontented with my quietly sensible decision, but whether she gave up trying to persuade me or simply turned away without enthusiasm, I couldn’t tell.

Inside, the darkness was intensified by the absence of moonlight, so I cautiously felt my way along the wall as I entered.

After being inside for a few minutes, as my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, a single possibility occurred to me.

“…Can’t I create some light myself?”

I had grown rather adept at manipulating divine energy, so perhaps I could conjure a small enough light that wouldn’t catch fire.

“Hmm… light?”

Without much concern for failure—after all, the worst that could happen was a singed fingertip—I focused my divine energy on my finger.

Soon enough, a small light, akin to a firefly, gathered at my fingertip and illuminated the surroundings.

“Hmm…”

Contrary to expectations, there was less dust in the abandoned mansion than I’d thought.

Compared to the underground prison where I first stayed in this world, this palace, if one could call it that, was quite decent.

The bed, rudimentary in its construction of straw and wood, proved surprisingly comfortable when I tentatively lay down.

At the very least, it was far better than the bare ground beneath a single piece of cloth.

I gazed at the ceiling for a while before closing my eyes, yet oddly enough, sleep eluded me.

It’s strange to be so alert despite having used so much divine energy today. Could it be guilt for using someone else’s home so carelessly, even if they’re deceased?

To feel remorse for this when I’ve gone as far as creating a makeshift grave for that deceased person’s words with my own hands?

It’s ludicrous even to consider it.

Brushing it off as a trivial thought, I closed my eyes again, but sleep remained elusive.

“One maiden… two maidens…”

A classic method, envisioning maidens to hasten sleep, proved futile. Instead, the thought of an inexistent, virtuous maiden filled me with such emotion that any hint of drowsiness vanished.

“Sigh…”

Exhaling heavily, I propped myself up halfway.

Just as I intended to walk a bit to calm my mind, right then—

*Creak.*

Enhanced hearing since becoming a warrior detected footsteps in the distance.

If it had been one or two, I might have dismissed it as someone going for a late-night stroll. But the number of footsteps was at least a dozen.

Who on earth would be visiting a ruined village in the dead of night?

“Surely…”

Is it the vengeful spirit of a non-virgin who survived without succumbing to the Virgin’s Breath, coming to seek revenge on me?!

“It could be…!”

I tried to dismiss the sudden thought, but considering the venom of the elderly non-virgin, who was considered among the upper echelons of non-virgins, it wasn’t entirely implausible.

Hastily rising from my seat, I grabbed my lance and shield, standing before the wall.

The spirit of the non-virgin seemed unusually cautious, as if it had seen traces we left behind in this place.

They are getting closer.

When they reached right in front of the house where I stayed, without any hesitation, I forcefully opened the door and confronted them with my lance.

“Who are you?!”

“Oh, uh?! (Experience Points: 5)”

To my surprise, the one who had fallen to the ground was not the spirit of the non-virgin, but a man wearing thick cloth garments. A sword was strapped to his waist.

Though not in armor, his appearance didn’t seem that of a mere thief. I slightly raised my lance and asked them.

“Who are you guys?”

*****

“So, if I summarize your words….”

The identity of those we thought were attackers turned out not to be the spirits of non-virgins but knights dispatched from the front lines.

A few weeks ago, knights exploring the rear in preparation for any potential crisis discovered the ruined village. With permission from their superiors, they formed an investigation team and, while exploring the destroyed village, encountered us.

“…You noticed quite quickly.”

It was an unavoidable situation, but even so, considering the number of people who died, a sarcastic remark seemed appropriate. They had nothing to say, and merely nodded in acknowledgment.

“But the ghouls… (Experience Points: 5)”

“We killed them. We managed to kill all the ghouls wandering through the forest, so at least there’s nothing to worry about for now.”

Perhaps there might be one or two ghouls that we didn’t manage to catch, but the kingdom should take care of that.

The Golez also nodded with half-closed eyes, as if agreeing with this thought.

Waking up in the middle of the night, their eyes were half-shut, and it was questionable if the story had truly sunk in.

“How is the situation on the front lines? (Experience Points: 17)”

Perhaps because it was the front line where their master was, Las was more proactive than the three of us, showing greater interest.

“…We don’t know the current situation since we left a few weeks ago, but even when we left, it wasn’t in great shape. (Experience Points: 5)”

“What happened… (Experience Points: 17)”

“Really? Alright, let’s take a different path then. No need to go down a risky road for nothing.”

Sensing the story might drag on, I, as the leader of this party that didn’t quite feel like one, skillfully cut in at the right moment.

As the old saying goes, a wise man doesn’t venture near danger or red-light districts.

A place that was dangerous a few weeks ago might not be safe now, so it would be wise to cross over to the north through a different front as soon as possible.

“Yes, yes?! W-Weren’t you here to help us?! (Experience Points: 5)”

“I wasn’t?”

The knights looked at me with dumbfounded faces as if wondering what misconception they had.

Betraying their expectations didn’t really tug at my heartstrings… in truth, it didn’t ache much.

I’m just here to take down the commander stationed in the north; whatever happens to the front isn’t my concern.

If I were to care, it’d only be if the front collapsed entirely, endangering the kingdom’s existence.

Because if that happened, not only would maidens perish, but any promises with the king would also be in vain.

“…Or what? If I don’t go, will the front collapse?”

“…Well. (Experience Points: 5)”

The knights maintained silence, seeming unable to bring themselves to articulate an answer to my question.

What’s with this unpleasant silence?

Thinking I might have asked a pointless question, I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere with a different query, but Las, seemingly concerned about our mentor, spoke urgently.

“…Tell us precisely what’s happening on the front line. (Experience Points: 17)”

“…Nothing at all. We’ve entered a stalemate and spent months just glaring at each other. (Experience Points: 5)”

“What? So there’s no issue at all…”

Just as I was about to say there were no issues, I recalled the characteristic of the demons I had heard before and a shiver ran down my spine.

Unlike humans, demons don’t recruit. Like the Soviets harvested soldiers from the fields, demons endlessly harvest soldiers from somewhere else.

So, saying they’re in a stalemate means…

“Right now, even at this moment, the demons are continually swelling in numbers. Since it was a stalemate when we left, I don’t even want to imagine how many there might be now. (Experience Points: 5)”

“Damn it…”

Why is there nothing happening?