Chapter 189 - Chapter Twelve: Regnentes
The Regnentes side's station was located along the highway, a bit away from an abandoned village surrounded by stone walls.
When we arrived in the Bowl, we were suddenly surrounded by soldiers with spears.
"W-What are you people? W-W-Where did you come from!"
They seemed quite frightened.
I had heard that Flight Magic was known to the Regnentes King's direct army, but the low-ranking soldiers didn't know about it.
"Sorry for startling you. We are members of the Sertoria Kingdom Army's light infantry. We've come to introduce the people who will be undertaking the construction of the communication route."
The bandit jumped down from the Bowl.
"M-My apologies!"
The person who seemed to be the captain hurriedly lowered his spear upon seeing the bandit's sallet.
Only higher-ranking soldiers are allowed to wear a sallet with an insignia. Since the Jaegers are all elite soldiers, they wear them normally and it's not unusual, but I heard that even in the central army, only those of commander or sub-commander rank can wear them.
"Well, have everyone share this," he said, handing over the smoked meat and wine barrel with Owen's mark that he'd brought.
"We are always, always grateful for your consideration."
The captain, his face breaking into a smile, had his subordinates carry them while rubbing his hands together.
Winning the hearts of soldiers along the border isn't apparently Lord Roberts's exclusive specialty.
"As I said earlier, these people are the ones in charge of the communication route construction, directly appointed by Nakanohara Defense Commander Adolf. All of them are mages, and they usually do monster extermination, but they were selected for the destructive power of their magic. Among them, this Priest Jeanne is a Dragon Killer who received a direct knighthood from the King of Medioland. Oh, Paul and Beatrix were also Dragon Killers."
"Nice to meet you," Beatrix said, reaching out her hand, and the captain, who swallowed hard, timidly reached out his hand.
The way the soldiers looked at us changed.
When I smiled at the youngest one, he looked away; I wonder what that was about.
"By the way, what is this thing that flies in the sky?"
As expected of a captain. He's properly fulfilling his duties.
"Glad you asked. This is Paul-style Flight Magic. I can't go into details, but it can fly freely through the sky. How about it, would you like to try it once?"
When the captain looked at the bandit's face, he was nodding.
"No, but..."
"Oh, it's fine, just get on. I'll keep it between us."
The captain, whose waist was completely pulled back, was pulled by the arm by the bandit and half-forced onto it, then flew off in the Bowl.
A little while later, the captain returned with a flushed face and flared nostrils.
"C-Captain. Are you okay?"
"You guys get on too."
He seemed to have completely fallen for it.
"Eh?"
When he slapped the backs of the retreating soldiers, he was pushing them toward the Bowl.
"It's fine, just get on. It's a rare kindness. It would be unthinkable to refuse!"
In the end, all four remaining people flew off.
After they came back, the distance between us closed at once.
Everyone seemed moved.
"I will never forget the debt of this day."
There was even someone who was holding Paul-san's hand as if they were about to cry.
"This is how you become friends, isn't it?"
"That's right. We are allied forces, after all. We cooperate; hostility is out of the question."
When Beatrix asked, the bandit answered, and the captain, who heard it, also thanked us with a face that looked like a landslide.
Since there was only one horse, we had the captain get in the Bowl again and had him guide us around the area.
The bandit would stay at the station and make small talk.
"That place surrounded by stone walls is where the village used to be. It's become an abandoned village now."
"Why did it become an abandoned village?"
Immediately, the curious mage was asking.
"I don't know the details, but they say it was wiped out during a famine. Since then, it's been called a Defiled Land." (T/N: 'Impure' or 'Defiled' (fujou) in a Japanese religious context often refers to spiritual pollution caused by death or taboo acts.)
The captain seemed to be from a family of soldiers employed by the lord. He was apparently in a privileged position even among commoners.
"During the famine, many serfs died. It was just around the time I started serving as a soldier. The lord also tried everything he could to gather food, but since the entire island—no, including the continent—was short on food, it resulted in a rather tragic outcome."
He told us while looking down.
"The lord is a kind person, isn't he?"
"I suppose so. He has a reputation for being one of the better ones among the nobility. He's the one who rules this village and the basin to the southwest, but his opponents are too much for him. Famine and the Engrio army... he always seems to be troubled."
There were even cases where entire villages were wiped out by famine or war, and there's a critical shortage of population. Now, rebuilding such villages is apparently an urgent task.
Afterward, he explained while pointing from the sky at charcoal burners' huts and woodcutters' huts.
Paul-san said he wanted to hear the woodcutter's story, so with the captain's permission, we decided to hear it.
The woodcutter was alone in the hut. He seemed to be a hunter as well.
As promised, after surprising him with Flight Magic, we had him eat Highway Cookies.
"I've never eaten something so delicious before!"
He was someone who spoke a bit like Bonnie.
I'm sure his aim with a bow must be accurate.
Once he was in a good mood, we listened to his story.
"That village is apparently called a Defiled Land, but did something happen?"
Since it was a matter of that nature, I, as a priest, decided to ask.
"A long time ago, it was wiped out by famine."
"But just being wiped out wouldn't lead to it being called a Defiled Land, would it?"
"Priest-sama. What are you going to do by hearing such a thing?"
"I am a priest. I have a duty to purify defiled lands."
"The lord already did that. So it should be purified."
"Then why is it a Defiled Land?"
"Even if you ask me that... I'm not the one saying it."
This isn't going anywhere. When I was about to leave, saying to let me know if he found out anything, he said, "Come to think of it."
"Looking at Priest-sama's face reminded me. I heard before. That the village wasn't wiped out by famine, but by being executed for treason."
"Treason?"
The captain looked away.
He seemed to have known.
"Yeah, food ran out, and there was apparently a killing spree between the poor and the wealthy. They said the village head was also killed then."
A struggle over food, huh. According to Wilson-san, it's a natural thing.
"But that's a natural thing, isn't it? There are examples everywhere of wars starting because food ran out."
It shouldn't be enough to be called defiled.
If farmers are cursed for killing a village head or a lord, then all of Sertoria is cursed.
"No, well... At that time, there was a rumor that someone killed and ate an infant..."
"What..."
I was at a loss for words.
"Hey, is that true?"
The captain cut in.
"It's a rumor. I don't know if it's true."
I exchanged looks with the captain.
We agreed on the point that it was unreliable.
"Priest Jeanne. If it's alright with you, shall I ask the lord?"
"The lord?"
"Yes. The lord is thinking of somehow reviving this place as a village. However, since the previous lord called it a cursed land, there have been no settlers. The reason is the rumors this guy mentioned. Even though it's not known if it actually happened, only strange rumors are spreading."
The captain himself probably hates being the gatekeeper of a cursed land.
Besides, it was purified by a priest.
Unless the Demon Lord attacks, nothing happened.
Eventually, if the communication route with Sertoria is expanded and becomes a formal highway, there's a possibility it could develop as a key point before the border forest.
There's a [Teleport] magic circle at the station, so it seems possible to exchange letters with the lord.
I am a priest. If it's to purify a cursed land or a defiled land, there's no problem with talking directly to the lord.
"What if they really killed and ate an infant?"
Beatrix said something outrageous.
"Beatrix. Surely that's..."
I tried to stop her, but I was cut off.
"Even if they didn't kill and eat it, they might have eaten it after it died. There are rumors that such things happened on the continent, right? Then it wouldn't be strange if something happened that would start such rumors somewhere on this island."
"If you're going to ask the lord, you need to be prepared." I couldn't argue with Beatrix's words.
"What of it? It's all in how you think about it. There are times when you must kill to survive. It's better than being wiped out."
Paul-san has his own thoughts, I know. He said something similar during the centipede incident.
"P-Paul-dono. You, that is, human flesh, that..."
When the captain was hesitating, Paul-san answered, "No."
The captain let out a big sigh.
"Fortunately, I haven't. However, I believe there is an order in which humans die. In an emergency, if the parents die, the infant won't last either. It's pitiful, but the infant will be the first to die."
That's true. However, it's not something that can be easily condoned.
"Do you think parents would gladly devour their own child? If the child survives, wouldn't they carve their own body to feed the child? I'm not married and have no children. So I can't say anything grand. However, if there was someone who barely survived by eating their child's flesh during a famine, I wouldn't say anything. Because there are teachings, they can't even kill themselves. They will spend their whole lives with regret. I have no intention of denying that. It's just that the people around them who know nothing shouldn't deny those who are living now. I just want to treat those who are living now as those who will continue to live."
At Paul-san's words, everyone fell silent.
As if time had stopped, no one moved a muscle.
Perhaps because they were ruminating on Paul-san's words in their heads, no sound could be heard.
After encountering the scene of cannibalism during the centipede extermination, I re-read the book of teachings. In the book of teachings, there were no words denying that humans eat humans. They might have been deleted. However, among the various vices listed starting with murder, cannibalism was not written.
Killing a living infant is a vice.
However, eating the flesh of a dead infant is...
I can't say it's not a vice.
But...
It was the woodcutter who broke the silence.
"I think so too. But, you know, when I said such things, I was hated by the people in the basin, and I couldn't stay there anymore. I was a woodcutter near this village, so I knew the people of this village well. So I was told by the lord and came here. Look, the person in that charcoal burner's hut is the same."
He was a person involved...
And he himself wasn't in the village...
Even so, he was loathed.
"This person is a woodcutter here by order of the previous lord. There's another person in the charcoal burner's hut who is similarly in this land. Both are from families of free farmers and are servants of the previous lord."
The captain explained.
The woodcutter was throwing out both legs like a spoiled child.
"If I die, who will protect the ancestors' graves? I can't do it unless I'm alive. How much the people of this village suffered. And yet, those guys... even though they know nothing... why do I have to die?"
He spread his hands, looking like he was about to cry.
He said he remembered when he saw me wearing the priest's robes.
He must have wanted someone to listen.
I reflexively hugged the woodcutter.
"You've done nothing wrong. You should just live your life as yourself. This land is not a cursed land. Because you are living correctly with a human heart like this. It must be painful. But please endure. Please continue to live correctly. Because the Goddess surely knows about you."
I could only barely say the most obvious things.
I myself have an aversion to cannibalism.
However, this person only showed understanding for the actions of people who fell into an extreme state. He's done nothing wrong.
The lord probably gave this person a place to live.
It's not atonement.
It's to keep him away from those who say cruel things and let him spend his time quietly.
And to pray for the souls of those who died in this land.
"Priest-sama, Priest-sama, I... I can live, right? I'm hated wherever I go, but I'll just spend my time here with the charcoal burner until I die. I'm not bothering anyone. So, so, I can live, right?"
He clung to me while sobbing like a child.
His feelings up until now were conveyed to me.
His existence must have been denied.
Was he told to die?
Was he told he'd be killed?
The inside of the hut, which was properly organized and kept clean, represented his character. The smile when he ate the Highway Cookies was nothing but goodness.
At a time like this, what would the Headmistress say?
Would she say, "Then you should become a priest"?
"Of course. Please continue to live. I don't hate you. The captain doesn't hate you either. Neither does Paul-san, nor Beatrix. No one hates you. There's no one here now who hates you."
When I looked at the captain, he nodded.
"You must have had a very painful time until now. Thank you for staying in this land. In your heart, the memories of the kind people of this village must remain. If you continue to live, the memories of the people of this village who loved you will also continue to live. This land is not cursed. I can tell by looking at you. You were surely loved. So, please. Please stay healthy. I want you to continue to live from now on."
When I finally said that much, I patted the head of the sobbing woodcutter.
Why did this person have to go through such a thing?
Without knowing, I just patted the woodcutter's head.