Chapter 146 – Small Changes (8)

It was a night when I felt that the northern sky was particularly black. White snowflakes pierced the ground sharply, like starlight. Thin clothes and heavy chains kept screaming at him to stop. In the cold weather that seemed to freeze even his muscles, the man warmed his face and hands with his breath as white as his snow.

“Ah, uh… !”

My lips were frozen and I couldn’t express myself properly. I breathed in and exhaled the cold air several times, and it seemed that even my lungs were drying up. Every time the dry, cold air wrapped around his body, the man collapsed on the spot and was overcome by the urge to fall asleep.

But I couldn’t. He did not come to this land just to die in the snow. He had someone he loved. He also had a family he must return to. I had a warm home and wonderful friends.

However, his feet were so cold that he couldn’t feel them, and his hands were also frozen blue. Every time he exhaled, his hands, which had been fidgeting a little, turned purple, visually hinting at his death.

At that moment, the man stopped like a plaster statue in the middle of the snowfield. He saw a light like the eyes of a beast in the distance, but he realized he couldn’t go. Now he knew that soon his legs would give up and he would fall.

There were no beasts chasing him from behind. He couldn’t even hear the howl of the monster that was expressing grotesque sexual desire to fuck and eat him. Although free, the ending was the same. A human who should have died in a snowstorm inside an iron cage died outside the cage in a snowstorm.

The man let out a laugh. His eyes seeped through his teeth, but he wasn’t cold at all. For some reason, I felt languid and warm. As if by a fireplace, he naturally closed his eyes.

In the distance, I heard someone shouting. Urgent voice. The sound of the sled moving. And the sound of my body dragging like firewood.

The man didn’t care where he was being taken. Because he is so comfortable now.

*****

There is no heaven or hell in this world.

When the man opened his eyes again, what he thought was dead was a fireplace and a thick blanket. Sweat was dripping from his body, and his hands and feet were tightly bound with bandages. The man tried to move his body around, but his whole body ached, like the day after a grueling workout.

“Ah… !”

And the woman with her hair in two ponytails saw the man and was startled, and then she turned around and went outside. The man remembered that she had a plain but cute appearance and that her breasts were quite large.

Shortly after the woman leaves. A huge shadow appeared in front of the door. A shadow that had only sneakily covered the window entered the room and turned the light against it, coloring the entire room dark. The man had to raise his head to face the furry hat and thick beard. The quiver on his back and his thick leather outfit hinted at his profession.

“Are you awake?”

“…Who is this?”

The man spoke plainly as usual. The hunter, wearing thick clothes and boasting a warm bear-like expression, didn’t care about the man’s rude reply.

“As you can see, I’m from this town. Who are you?”

The hunter asked a question to be with the firewood. The man took another look at his clothes after hearing the hunter’s question. The body of the wounded, wrapped in thick bandages, was clean and plain.

“I am Orland, a relative of Hero Wolf. Thank you for saving me. I’ll pay you back when you come to my family’s side later.”

“Heh heh, a relative of the hero? That’s great. Did you come here to investigate?”

“Inspection? What investigation?”

Orland was trapped in the snow, so he didn’t know what the outside world was like. Said the hunter.

“These days, beastmen are attacking humans, so it’s not a mess. As you can see, I don’t think that happened there either. Right? I think Yongke ran away too. As expected, the blood of the warrior is strong.”

“That… It’s something the other guys know what to do. I’m not here for that.”

Hearing the expression ‘such a thing’, the hunter’s eyebrows moved greatly. Orlando thought that being captured by a beastman was just a ‘lucky thing’, and that it was something other good fighters and honorable guys had to deal with.

The hunter, who glared at his face once, softened his face again and said,

“Then what did you come for?”

“I’m looking for a woman named Sophia. She’s a very pretty girl with pink hair, have you seen her? She came because she was in the north, but she got caught by the beastmen while she was sledding and ended up like this.”

“It would be nice to sell.”

The hunter clicked his tongue as he said that. Orland said to the hunter with a displeased look on his face.

“What?”

“You said you could sell it. It doesn’t mean anything.”

The hunter raised his body while saying that. Orlando raised an eyebrow and said.

“Choose a horse and do it. ‘Cause when I was in the capital, all the fucking talkers like you broke their jaws. I’m from the Hero family. Uh? A relative of the famous Hero Wolf! Orlando!”

Orlando screamed, but the hunter was not afraid. He tilted his head and took a step closer to Orland. He reflexively tried to raise his fist, but Orlando realized that his hands and legs were bound in bandages.

“If I die here, who will know who it is?”

The hunter’s words were not a joke.

If I just dumped him into the snow right now, it was certain that the blizzard would rage like a pack of dogs and bury him. He, unable to use his hands or legs properly, will freeze to death without being able to resist, and one day, on a sunny spring day, his corpse will finally melt with the soft ice and bloom yellow flowers on this land.

Their eyes met, and cold sweat ran down Orlando’s forehead. Am I going to die like this? Do I have to disappear like this just because I made fun of my mouth once?

“Dad! What are you doing to a sick person!”

And the door burst open again. The woman, who seemed timid and naive, pushed the hunter away and inspected Orlando’s wounds. Looking closely at the house, bandages and various herbs were scattered along with hunting equipment. She said to Orland as the woman crushed herbs in her mortar.

“If you are a patient, stay calm like a patient. Because I’m not feeling very well right now. You will have to stay here for a while.”

“Ah… Huh.”

Orlando nodded her head, bewildered at the sight of her nursing him. When the man who had been acting cheeky like he was going to play a joke at any moment became calm, the hunter snorted and went out. Said the woman.

“Are you very surprised? Sorry. You’re not that kind of person, but lately I’ve become a bit sensitive to the fact that beastmen keep attacking people.”

“Oh, no.”

Orlando nodded her head politely. While the woman was bandaging him, he was a bit flustered. Had she ever been cared for in this way? He was always on the side of dominating women. Being cared for by a woman with all her limbs missing was foreign to him.

“Be comfortable. You don’t have to worry about counting money. First of all, you need to be healthy.”

With her laugh, Orland nodded her head.

******

It’s been such a long time. Even after Orland’s limbs healed, he did not leave the North. To be precise, it would have been more accurate to say that he could not leave.

It was because while he was recuperating, Drek-Psy’s Imp Corps waged a massive slaughter battle in the northern mines and mountains.

Drek-Psy’s demons captured people, skinned them, sacrificed them to Drek-Psy, killed people for sheer fun, and dragged technicians, such as blacksmiths and tanners, alive. He monopolized the mines, dug up iron ore, and killed hunters roaming the forest.

The attack also reached her father and daughter’s home in a remote location.

The hunter and the woman had to evacuate with Orlando. The hunter poured out his complaints about the heavy Orland, but he refused to abandon him. The woman threw away all her belongings and loaded Orland into her luggage compartment, as if she had to take Orland along as well.

As Orlando lived in this house, he knew the things she held dear. A large ornament made with her father. The table where her family ate together. My dead mother’s dressing table that was polished to a shine.

Orland was sitting where one of them should have been.

“Are you okay?”

It was because Orlando really couldn’t understand her lady’s behavior that she threw such a comment at her. It didn’t make sense for her to give up her belongings to save one of her bullies. He wasn’t a very nice person even if he thought of himself.

“What?”

The woman asked Orlando that. Orland pointed to her receding house, she said.

“Are you going to throw that away? You know they burn down houses and take what they like. There will be nothing left.”

The woman pulled out her necklace and said.

“This is all you need.”

Then she looked at Orlando’s wound and said.

“And how do you pretend not to know someone who is sick?”

Orlando laughed at that.

So even though he was well, he couldn’t leave the village.

He took up the sword instead and joined the village vigilantes.

I couldn’t even explain why I was doing this.