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Chapter : 68
The End of the Edge
The village scenery was tranquil.
“It looks like land too beautiful to be taken by monsters.”
Charlophe gazed at the harbor spread out in the distance. White buildings clustered together, forming the village.
A windmill turned within the village, and from an old mill came the sound of grain being ground. As they descended toward the village, the blare of ship horns grew louder. Charlophe craned his neck, eyes fixed far away. Seawater rippled shallowly.
“The sea is calm.”
“Don’t forget that monsters are hiding beneath it.”
Benjamin pulled on the reins.
Lights flashed in the distance. A ship was sailing along the coastline.
“Is that a warship?”
“It patrols the restricted zone. It keeps civilian ships from approaching the suppression front and monitors changes along the coast.”
Fishermen had gathered at the pier, spreading out a drinking table.
“I thought it would be bleak because of the monsters, but it’s not.”
“Of course, the suppression front is a land where people kill and are killed. Monster attacks are frequent, and most fronts exposed to monster miasma become contaminated.”
“……”
“Still, it’s a place someone has to protect.”
Benjamin gestured toward the fishermen holding bottles.
“Because it’s a suppression front, mercenaries come and go often, but this is still land where the territory’s people live. Fishing boats catch fish, mercenaries hunt monsters—everyone has their role.”
Most of the territory’s people had lost their families to monsters.
“This is Pophyta Harbor.”
As the sun set, the wind blowing in from the sea grew colder.
“It’s getting cold now that the sun’s down. Pull your shawl tighter.”
The black horse shook its mane. It was a military horse that had fought monsters head-on at the suppression front, its mane sleek and its body large.
Soon, the guards slowed the horses.
“From here, it would be better to tie the horses near the harbor and proceed on foot.”
Charlophe wasn’t particularly fond of snacks. There were times she’d poured strong liquor into an empty stomach, and many days she forgot to eat altogether.
Meals were merely one means of sustaining life, and she’d found them somewhat bothersome. A listless body rarely had much appetite.
And yet Charlophe was chewing on octopus meat.
“Isn’t it spicy?”
“It’s spicy, but refreshing.”
“It might sting your stomach. There’s potato salad too—eat it together.”
Benjamin scooped mashed potato salad into Charlophe’s mouth.
“There’s a lot of spicy and salty food.”
“That’s how things are seasoned here.”
The old street vendor chuckled.
“Fishermen won’t eat unless it’s like this.”
Sitting at such stalls, drinking and snacking, was the fishermen’s life. When battered by waves or prevented from sailing by monsters, they burned away the frustration with spicy, sharp flavors.
“What’s this that stings the throat?”
“Pepper. Little刺激 like this helps with dull boredom.”
The pepper pricked sharply. Her eyes watered from the spice. Another ship’s horn boomed.
Charlophe lightly covered her ears and stuck out her tingling tongue. ‘It’s spicy.’ Reading her lips, Benjamin fed her potatoes mixed with honey.
“You look like a cat with its mouth full.”
The whole potato was big; Charlophe held it between her lips and tilted her head.
“Hm?”
Dazed eyes turned toward him. Charlophe’s eyes curved gently.
“Anything else you want to eat?”
“I’m full.”
Charlophe placed a hand on her lower abdomen and rubbed it lightly.
“Everyone keeps feeding me.”
“If you eat too much, you’ll get a stomachache.”
Benjamin grabbed her arm, leaned in, and took a small bite of the potato. Their lips brushed—just barely.
“Ah—!”
The guards hurriedly lowered their eyes.
“It’s sweet.”
Benjamin frowned slightly at the tongue-numbing sweetness. The vendor grilling octopus skewers laughed heartily.
“You poured on a lot of honey because it was spicy.”
The potato salad mixed with honey and mayonnaise melted on the tongue like cream.
“Why are you spacing out?”
Benjamin brushed Charlophe’s lips with his fingers.
“You’ve got some on the corner of your mouth.”
“You looked like a snake.”
She licked the honey off with her tongue.
“A refined snake, then.”
“……”
“Do you remember? The first day you came to find me alone—you looked at me like a snake then too. You asked me to put you in my mouth.”
“That’s right. You looked like a snake that day too.”
“Whether in my stomach or my mouth.”
Even though she knew overeating caused stomach trouble.
“I think I swallowed you that day.”
Charlophe touched the back of her neck. Warm heat pooled there.
If she lost focus now, she felt she might collapse.
“Ahem.”
The vendor cleared his throat awkwardly.
“How much is it?”
“Three silver coins.”
Benjamin quietly paid.
“Shall we walk a bit more?”
Charlophe walked along the harbor road.
“……”
Ship horns sounded again, then gradually faded. Charlophe’s footsteps also grew quiet.
As the sound of horns faded into the distance, Charlophe stopped.
“You have something to tell me, don’t you?”
This time, Charlophe asked first.
“The criminal is suspected of being a worshipper of the Ancient Bloodline.”
“The clans that handle monsters?”
Another horn echoed.
“You’ve always been strange. You’ve been through a monster’s grave and are close to black magic. Black magic, sorcery, monsters, monster graves, death—you’re tangled up with all of it.”
“You mean my life hasn’t been easy.”
“……There’s somewhere we need to go together.”
Charlophe asked quietly.
“Where?”
The outer suppression front.
Benjamin stepped on a rotted, dried branch.
“This was once a basilisk nest.”
“Ah……”
“A small mercenary group was wiped out here—twenty dead. Monsters have grown more vicious than usual. This wasn’t a front that should’ve suffered such losses. Even in the past, the mercenary group that defeated the basilisk here was annihilated afterward.”
People who didn’t need to die had died.
“Something’s wrong.”
“Monsters are growing more violent, and the miasma thicker. It’s true that the miasma deepens during their active season, but this is different.”
Feral monsters increased the damage.
Land contaminated by miasma recovered more slowly.
The outer front ran along a cliff.
Everything was skeletal. Trees had dried and withered, drained of all moisture. Their bark looked scorched black like ash.
Leaves had all fallen, and the tree bases were blackened and rotting. Even the soil was dry despite the damp air. Crunch—dry leaves crumbled.
“Desolate.”
“Contaminated by monster miasma.”
“……Is this the place?”
“They were watching through the eyes of a low-level monster here.”
“A crow monster?”
She remembered the sight of a beak split wide, clinging to a dying crow.
“Crows are close to death.”
Benjamin recalled words from old texts.
“If you were the one who defeated the crow monster, you’d know—it’s left the realm of humans.”
“……Black magic, then. Possessing monster bodies, involving itself with death, controlling monsters.”
Charlophe narrowed her eyes.
“So it’s moved even farther from humanity.”
If they were to meet again someday—
“Would it look very different from the last time I saw it?”
“It might be far from the image you remember.”
Charlophe sighed softly.
“That’s a shame.”
Dry leaves crumbled into dust.
“Do you think it gave up remaining human?”
“If it embraced black magic, remaining human is difficult.”
Benjamin ground his boot into the earth, leaving a deep footprint.
“The closer one gets to black magic, the farther the body drifts from humanity. Even if its form resembles a human, it cannot be one. To think a soul meddling with life and death could remain intact—that would be greed.”
Charlophe looked toward the distant front.
“How many died again?”
“Twenty.”
The entire mercenary group was wiped out.
“Too many sacrifices.”
Far too many dead.
“It’s different now. Abandon the notion that it’s the same as before.”
Benjamin warned her.
“The suppression front will grow harsher.”
“If it does, then those who wield the sword must grow stronger. Excessive fear stiffens people, but the right amount sharpens the blade.”
Hesitation on the suppression front leads directly to death. Those who fail to adapt will leave.
“So that’s what a blade is.”
In the end, one fights death and endures.
Even if afraid, one must endure—to pour strength into the blade and strike roughly.
“It’s dark.”
“The moon is bright.”
“Doesn’t it feel shadowed?”
“I’ve walked roads like this often.”
Looking back on her past life, she’d never lived comfortably even once.
That was why death had been easier.
‘It was unfair, but it was peaceful.’
Having died once, most things no longer fazed her.
“Anything else to see?”
“Let’s go down now.”
Charlophe shook her head gently.
“I’ll escort you down.”
The guards covered them. The path down the cliff was slippery.
“Careful—you’ll slip.”
A guard held her arm. Even in low-heeled shoes, her feet ached from the long walk.
Crsh—crack.
Soil behind the cliff crumbled and spilled.
“That’s irritating.”
Benjamin ran a hand through his short hair and pulled Charlophe close.
“If you don’t want to be mistaken for a monster and killed, come out.”
Something rolled down.
An old woman crawled forward, clutching a bundle.
“Oh dear, p-please put the sword away. I just lost my way, I was only trying to find the path out……”
“What should we do?”
As a guard drew his sword, the old woman flailed in panic.
“M-my child died here… I just wanted to calm the spirit… light some incense, hold a small rite… My son died here… I just wanted him to leave peacefully.”
“Was your son a mercenary?”
“Yes… he went to hunt monsters.”
Pedlin gently took the old woman’s arm.
“She’s terrified. It would be better to escort her quietly instead of threatening her.”
The old woman dropped her bundle. Incense, matches, and dried fish spilled out. She fumbled on the ground.
“Where, where is it……”
“Are you alright?”
“I-I’m fine.”
Night had fallen.
Getting down came first.
“We’re going down for now.”
The old woman gathered incense and matches back into her bag. The “dried fish” she picked up was actually a stone.
“……”
Charlophe picked up the fallen dried fish and placed it back in the bag.
“Oh dear.”
The old woman rolled down the slope.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Charlophe followed behind her.
The old woman kept tumbling along the shadowed incline.
She bit her lip, crawling in her tattered clothes.
“Hold her from the side.”
Charlophe realized then.
“She’s blind.”
The old woman could not see.
