The Guardian of the Hidden Village

“So, is the scenery of this village all you intended to show us?”

“No, feel free to enter. Once you see the relationship I share with the people here, I’m sure your companions will gain at least a little trust in me.”

Saleos spoke and snapped his fingers. At that moment, the barrier separating us from the village vanished—or rather, we were granted the authority to pass through it.

“What if our distrust only grows as we walk around the village?”

Levi, one of the knights who had remained silent toward Saleos until now, spoke up. At Levi’s question, Saleos smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“That won’t happen, so I’m not worried. I have confidence.”

“Confidence, you say…….”

“Honestly, I’m half-expecting you all to thank me.”

“…….”

Levi turned his head away instead of answering. His expression clearly said that silence was the best response to nonsense.

“Ignored again. Ahaha, well, that’s fine. I suppose that’s to be expected. Still, please refrain from any acts of violence. Enjoy the village tour, and if you feel like talking to me, come find me at my residence. I’ll be waiting there.”

“If the residents here show hostility first, we will have no choice but to respond.”

“They won’t. The fact that you entered without a fuss means I’ve permitted it.”

Saleos spoke, spun around once, and vanished on the spot with a shimmering effect.

“……He could have at least told us where his residence is before disappearing.”

I grumbled at the spot where he had stood.

“Can we trust the words of a demon?”

Saul asked in a low voice. He wasn’t asking me specifically; it was more of a general inquiry for the group. Unlike usual, the opinions were divided.

“He doesn’t seem like a demon who commits evil acts, and he possesses information we need. Blind hostility won’t gain us anything.”

“But he is a demon. He might be in league with the Demon King. There is no guarantee that the information he provides is the truth. How can we trust him?”

“But doubting him is also meaningless. He is someone Master Andrealphus has a history with; we cannot say he is unconditionally untrustworthy.”

“Enough.”

Azrael, who usually listened to all the knights’ opinions before stating his own at the end, reacted differently this time.

“Now that we have come this far, we have no choice but to follow his words. As long as Andrealphus is with us, he won’t act recklessly. We shall look around the village as he suggested and then make our judgment.”

No one protested against the words of the exhausted-looking Azrael.

The village was quite peaceful. Unlike the polished village from a few days ago, every path here was dim, shaded by tree canopies. And unlike that place where all kinds of food were abundant, here they seemed to barter for fruits and leaves, yet it felt much more human.

“Young men I haven’t seen before. Are you new?”

“Ah…… we ended up here by chance.”

“That’s how it always is. Who comes here because they want to? You must have suffered a lot with the world being so grim outside.”

Several people approached us like this. It felt like being welcomed as newcomers to a rural town. Even though a group of strangers was wandering around with weapons, there was no sign of wariness.

“It’s strange. Every time we went anywhere before, we were met with suspicious glares.”

“Fugitives in a place like this should be the most sensitive to knightly attire, yet they don’t seem on edge at all.”

Of course, not everyone was indifferent to our clothing. A few people went out of their way to take a long detour as soon as they spotted us. Yet even they didn’t seem desperate. It wasn’t that they were avoiding us specifically, but rather that this “attire” itself was uncomfortable for them.

“Are you people who just entered the village?”

“How did you know?”

“People who have grown accustomed to this place don’t wear such clothes.”

The person speaking to us this time was a one-eyed old man. With a benevolent face, he explained various things to us like an NPC in a beginner zone.

“Many here have trauma related to war. That is why it has become an implicit rule not to wear clothing that conspicuously relates to combat.”

“Combat-related clothing?”

“Yes, the kind of attire you are wearing now. Mercenary or knightly gear inevitably brings the war to mind.”

“We are still in the midst of a war. It doesn’t disappear just because it’s out of sight,” Judas said to the old man. It was unexpected. He hadn’t spoken much since Raphael left. Judas seemed to regret his words a moment later. “……I didn’t mean to disrespect this village.”

“I understand.”

The old man smiled kindly.

“War does not stop happening just because we look away from it. At this very moment, countless people across the continent are likely suffering.”

“……Yes.”

“However, this village belongs to those who have cowardly fled for the sake of peace. Everyone carries that fact deep in their hearts. They are all people who lost something to the war and sought this place out. A small peace obtained after losing everything—their homes, their acquaintances……. In such a place, isn’t it sad to be constantly reminded of war and pain?”

I don’t know if the knights could fully accept the old man’s words. Instead of answering, they fell silent. The old man didn’t add anything more to the silent knights; he simply smiled and waved them off.

“The fruit here tastes terrible.”

I frowned. The fruit here was sour as if unripe and dry and mealy from a lack of moisture. It felt like a waste of the dried rations I had traded for it.

“It can’t be helped. It’s difficult to go outside the village right now. Even that is quite precious.”

The man I had bartered with shrugged. Even though I had criticized the fruit to his face, he showed no offense. It was clear he felt the same way.

“Right now?”

“The monsters nearby have grown stronger because of the Demon King’s summoning. Saleos said he’s trying to find a solution, but he said they’ll just keep getting stronger unless the Demon King is subjugated.”

Oh, Saleos’s name came up. Since it was the first time an NPC had mentioned him, I pricked up my ears.

“Speaking of which…… about Saleos, what does he do here?”

Simon interjected to ask. The man holding a basket of fruit took a bite of one and answered.

“What does he do? He’s doing his best for our survival.”

“Survival?”

“Didn’t you see it when you came in? That massive barrier. It’s what hides this village from the nearby monsters.”

I let out a sigh of admiration. This guy and the other—everyone’s pouring their very souls into magic to protect their villages.

“You must be a mage, mister? To be so impressed. Honestly, I still don’t really get how amazing it is.”

“It’s amazing. For starters, it’s not a scale a human can pull off.”

Putting aside whether it was an efficient method, it was certainly impressive. If it were me, instead of wasting mana endlessly like this, I would have thought of a method to store mana and attack enemies that invaded. Building it this way was ridiculously inefficient. However, it did have one groundbreaking advantage: no one gets hurt or dies.

“Is it that much? Well, I suppose if it were easy, every capital city in every country would have one installed.”

“It’s no easy feat to protect everyone without anyone getting hurt,” I said modestly rather than going into detail.

“In the first place, if there were no such thing as war, there wouldn’t be such a waste of resources. But we don’t live in that kind of era, so it can’t be helped. We just have to live while lamenting being born in the wrong time.”

“And yet you live in such a peaceful place?”

“I’m sorry for saying this to you who just arrived……. Well, Saleos is working hard, but it’s inevitable. He said that if the monsters get much stronger than this, this barrier might not be able to deceive their eyes anymore.”

He spoke while tossing the fruit in his hand into the air and catching it. I asked him again.

“Are you not planning to flee to another safe place?”

“Where else would be safer than here?”

The man said that and grinned.

“We just have to be grateful for having enjoyed this much luck, and if there’s a place where we can step forward, we have to step forward.”

His tone suggested he would take up arms to protect the village if it became dangerous. There wasn’t a hint of resentment or blame toward Saleos in his words.

“You trust Saleos. Do you not think he might be hiding his power or intentionally putting you in trouble?”

“Why would he do that? Ah, is it because he’s a demon?”

“……That’s part of it.”

He shrugged.