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Chapter 2
“Rashvalen? It came from Rashvalen?”
Startled, Aris unintentionally spoke informally and frowned. He even forgot he had been walking and came to a sudden halt. Mirea approached his side with light steps. Without paying any mind to Aris’s reaction, she beamed and spoke with exaggerated enthusiasm.
“Yes, Rashvalen! They’re a group that’s supposedly trying to protect world peace, so of course they’d rush to help a neighbor in danger! By now, relief supplies should’ve arrived not only to this village but the surrounding region as well. The damage from the beasts around here was significant, so a large-scale support plan was already in place. However, only the distribution of supplies was included in this mission… not the rescue of villagers…”
Though Mirea ended her sentence a bit awkwardly, Aris still looked unconvinced. This time, Mirea took the lead in walking. Unlike Aris, who usually walked forward without caring who was behind, Mirea often turned to talk to him.
“And while I’m affiliated with Rashvalen, today’s supplies didn’t come from them alone. I just happened to catch the right timing and tagged along.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re getting a surprise bonus.”
“So please, explain—”
Just as Aris was about to grumble at the lack of explanation, another beastly roar echoed in the distance. It was closer than before. Without a word, they both took off running.
Though they hadn’t planned it, they matched pace and reached the village outskirts together safely. Breathing slightly heavier, Aris glanced at Mirea, who had kept up right beside him effortlessly and didn’t seem winded in the slightest. He looked at her with a mix of surprise and curiosity.
As they reached a safer area, Aris opened his mouth to finish what he had wanted to say—but before he could, a blonde woman in priestess robes came running toward them.
“Welcome back! You’re both safe!”
“Priestess Rizel.”
“I was so worried when you didn’t return after the beast appeared. Are you okay?”
“As you can see.”
After carefully checking Aris for any injuries, Rizel turned her kind voice toward Mirea, who had been standing a step behind.
“Thank you for bringing him back.”
But before Mirea could reply, Aris let out a small sigh.
“That wasn’t really necessary.”
“It’s not that I doubted your abilities, but you should still thank her. There’s always a ‘just in case.’”
“I already thanked her. Besides, how could you send a woman alone?”
“You were alone too, weren’t you?”
Mirea missed the timing to jump into their conversation, so she just folded her arms and watched the two.
“Were you successful in your hunt?”
Aris shrugged, showing his empty hands. Rizel gave a wry smile.
“I see. Well, thankfully the relief supplies arrived on time. We should be able to catch our breath for a while.”
“More importantly, she says she came from Rashvalen. Did the supplies come from there…?”
“To clarify, they didn’t come from Rashvalen alone. The Sori Order sent some as well.”
Aris raised an eyebrow at Mirea’s response.
“Rashvalen and the Sori Order… cooperated?”
“It was just coincidence. Our routes overlapped, so we traveled together for a bit. It was thanks to the priestess over there. She made a request for supplies and rescue. While full rescue wasn’t feasible, they were able to supply food. Once Rashvalen heard about that, they decided to send help to this region a bit earlier than planned. The more people we have to fight the beasts, the better, right? That’s why I came. And since we can get divine protection too, we’re grateful.”
That explained why there were two large trucks. Mirea spoke casually, but Aris’s doubts only grew stronger. It was strange that both Rashvalen and the Sori Order sent supplies, and even stranger that they arrived at the same time “by chance.”
As he naturally grew more cautious and observed the strangers around him, Aris noticed something important. The people from the Sori Order wore clothing adorned with a circular emblem—their symbol of cyclical faith.
In contrast, Mirea’s outfit was ordinary. She wore a sturdy navy half-coat, shorts, knee-high socks with knee pads, and sturdy walkers. Among the outsiders, only Mirea dressed like that.
Aris watched the group wearing the Sori Order’s insignia and asked Mirea,
“So… where are the other Rashvalen members?”
“It’s just me.”
Aris widened his eyes and looked at her.
“You brought all those supplies here… alone?”
“Well, technically, the Order members were with me, so I wasn’t completely alone.”
“But you were the only one from Rashvalen. You came without a supervisor?”
“Well… I did have companions originally, but due to internal issues, I had to come alone. It wasn’t really a problem since the Order people were here.”
“What were you going to do if something went wrong?”
“I figured it’d work out somehow.”
Hopeless… Aris’s expression twisted at her carefree reply. Then, in a quiet voice only she could hear, he muttered,
“Has Rashvalen gotten along with the Sori Order recently?”
“No? Not particularly better than before.”
“Then knowing something might go wrong, you still traveled with the Sori Order, without a single teammate, thinking it’d just ‘work out somehow’?”
Mirea laughed heartily.
“Haha, they’re all clergy. Even if we don’t get along, what could they possibly do to me?”
Her face clearly said, “Is that so bad?”
“I got here safely, didn’t I?”
“So what if you did? If you’d been unlucky in that beast-infested forest, you could’ve died without anyone to help you!”
To that, Mirea scratched her cheek and replied,
“Well, then I’d be dead.”
Totally hopeless! But Mirea genuinely looked carefree. Maybe she was just naturally cheerful, because she continued chatting with a bright face.
“If you worry about every little thing, life becomes miserable. If the answer won’t come no matter how much you think about it in advance, you may as well wait until the time comes. Besides, I had no choice. It was more efficient to join this group quickly than to move separately and double the security force.”
Not wrong—but still, very few people actually lived like this. At the very least, one should have a basic plan. Even if the Sori Order had been traveling alongside her, they were still from a different organization, which limited how much they could intervene in each other’s affairs.
Not to mention, Mirea seemed too young to handle such an important task alone. She looked inexperienced, and her reckless behavior didn’t make her seem any saner. Aris couldn’t imagine who would’ve assigned this mission to her—it felt incredibly irresponsible.
Still, Aris had seen Mirea’s swordsmanship earlier. The way she used her sword proved she wasn’t just anyone. Aris hadn’t seen someone take down a beast in one blow without a support tool in a long time—besides himself. If Mirea claimed she could survive alone in a swarm of beasts, Aris couldn’t easily deny it.
So while she wasn’t completely without skills… relying solely on herself was still reckless.
“Anyway, I’d like to meet the village leader.”
“Ah, the chief is over there.”
Mirea turned toward where Rizel had gestured. Spotting an old man speaking with someone who seemed to be the Sori Order’s leader, she walked in that direction. Aris couldn’t take his eyes off Mirea and silently observed her. What was she planning to do alone? Did she have no fear, or did she have nine lives? Either way, she was a strange person.
Whether or not Aris questioned her mental state, Rizel seemed quite cheerful.
“Well, thanks to her, our village will be well-provisioned for a while. Winter’s coming soon, and with game decreasing lately, we were really worried…”
“Apologies for my poor hunting skills,” Aris murmured softly beside her.
Most people in this region had brown hair and either black or brown eyes. Rizel, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, clearly wasn’t local. Just like Mirea with her red hair and pale green eyes.
In the center of the village stood a small shrine to the Frost Goddess. It maintained the protective barrier that kept the village safe. Rizel was in charge of maintaining it. Though the village was decently sized, being surrounded by forest in a basin-like terrain meant it wasn’t very accessible. Still, the village had flourished by relying on the forest.
That was until a year ago, when the forest became corrupted and turned into a monster-infested danger zone. The villagers had no time to evacuate and became isolated. The village was like an island—cut off on all sides. Anyone trying to enter or leave had to go through the beast-filled forest.
Since then, the village was completely cut off and had to become self-sufficient. But without the forest, there were limits to what they could sustain. Poverty grew, and food shortages became common.
