Chapter 72

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: After the Flames
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Walter, with a dark expression, ran toward the sound of crying, and Lucy followed him into the village.

“Sob, uncle! Uncle…!”

Near the burnt-out remains of a house, Zen was clutching someone.

The blood-soaked corpse, seemingly long dead, didn't even stir despite Zen's frantic movements.

Inside a house from which smoke still billowed, a charred body lay sprawled, seemingly unable to escape. The Lycan's wails, spreading through the blood, smoke, and acrid smell of burning, stirred a poignant sorrow in Lucy's rational mind.

Surveying the scene with stinging eyes, Lucy slowly approached Zen.

Zen had cast aside all composure, wailing as he hugged the dead Lycan. Fat tears dripped onto the long gash on the chest of the slain Lycan.

“…Zen.”

“My uncle, U-Uncle Boyen…! He was perfectly fine when I saw him last year….”

“Calm down, Zen.”

“Auntie is gone, and Grandma… everyone, all of them… no one is left. Sob, everyone… everyone…!”

*No one left?*

*Were all the villagers really massacred?*

Lucy stood up, her brow furrowed. After slowly looking around, she began to search the village thoroughly.

Whees, who had followed her with a troubled expression, worried she might be in danger, shot Walter an even more helpless look.

Walter calmly shook his head. He wanted to tell her to just stay put, but he couldn't possibly stop the queen as she rummaged through the blackened pillars with a determined face.

“Everyone, search for survivors!”

Lucy moved through the village without hesitation, searching for any who had survived.

Her white uniform became a mess of soot and ash, but she paid it no mind, entering and exiting only the houses that looked ready to collapse at any moment. She meticulously scanned her surroundings, and whenever she found a body, she ordered the soldiers to recover it.

Her steps only halted when she reached the edge of the village. Lucy looked up at a building of a design she had never seen before and tilted her head.

“What is this place?”

Too shabby to be a mansion, the strangely structured building—like a school and a house combined—was half-demolished, ravaged by fire just like the other houses.

Walter, who had followed her in Whees's stead, bent down to examine the foundation stone beneath the house's remains. When Lucy asked what it was, he answered her question in a low voice.

“The Verdant Hall… it's the elder's house, which also functions as the village hall.”

“It looks like a school from the outside.”

“It also serves as a school, as it's responsible for educating the young Lycans. I was hoping they might have taken refuge here, since there were no children's bodies in the village… but unfortunately, it seems the fire reached this far as well.”

As Walter slowly stood up, he flinched and quickly turned his head to the side.

When Lucy gave him a quizzical look, he placed a finger to his lips, gesturing for silence.

“I sense a presence. One moment.”

Muffling his footsteps, Walter entered the house and headed straight for the interior. He held up a hand to stop Lucy from following, then drew his sword and cleared away the debris scattered on the floor near the entrance.

A moment later, where the pile of ash had been, a wooden door leading to a cellar was revealed.

Before Lucy could say anything, Walter swung his sword and sliced the wooden door apart. A murmuring noise and a faint scream leaked from the gap in the sundered door, and as if he had been waiting for it, Walter spoke.

“We're not here to harm you! We've come with Zen, son of Yombak! Is anyone in there?”

The sobbing and screaming gradually died down. A low whispering continued for a moment, then silence fell.

It seemed they were debating whether it was safe to come out. After a moment, heavy footsteps trudged closer, and an old Lycan pushed the wooden door aside and crawled up the stairs.

“You came with Zen? Then, has the Parnas army come to help?”

“That is correct. Rest assured. I am Zen's superior officer, Walter Hyverge.”

The Lycan's mouth opened and closed as if at a loss for words, before he collapsed in front of Walter, letting out a sigh that was somewhere between a groan and a sob.

The singed marks on his dry, gray fur, combined with his aged appearance, made the Lycan look like an utterly wretched old man.

Walter waited for the Lycan to calm down, and once his sobs subsided, he offered a hand. The Lycan grasped his hand and struggled to his feet with a grunt.

From below the dark stairs, the sound of chattering grew slightly louder. *Are there children gathered there?* Walter kept his eyes fixed on the stairs and asked a question.

“Are the children safe?”

“They're all safe. Fortunately, they were in class, so we were able to evacuate quickly. The other villagers seemed to have run to the front of the village to stop the attackers... but it seems it was all for nothing.”

The Lycan raised his eyebrows, letting out a hollow breath. Walter deduced the identity of the person before him by combining the Lycan's age and characteristics.

“Seeing as you were in charge of the children, you must be the elder.”

“That's right.”

“What happened? Even if this village has a high proportion of elderly and children, I don't believe it would be helpless against thirty humans.”

The Lycan's slumped shoulders drooped even further as he sighed.

“From a distance, they were throwing something lit on fire... and it all turned out to be Mirage Herb.”

The herb that incapacitates Lycans. *No wonder I smelled a faint herbal scent mixed with the smell of burning; it must have been the Mirage Herb.*

“As it is, our village is unaffected by the full moon, so we have little use for Mirage Herb. Most of the villagers have no immunity to it.”

“In that case…”

“Everyone just started collapsing, and I barely managed to stay conscious and drag the children into the cellar. It's hard for ordinary humans to get their hands on Mirage Herb, so I have no idea how this happened….”

Mirage Herb is a specially supplied item, essential for a Lycan's survival. For that reason, each country strictly regulates its distribution, selling only small, necessary quantities exclusively to Lycans.

It is used almost like a third currency among Lycans, so it's impossible to know what chaos would ensue if an individual were to monopolize it. A case where that actually happened was Talkisin's Rebellion.

Talkisin, who rose as a leader of the Lycans, monopolized Mirage Herb and used it as a tool for his own selfish desires.

He also whispered to the Lycans that they didn't need to suppress their rampages under the full moon and could run wild as they pleased, attempting to shatter the balance between the races.

Though it's just a handful of dried leaves, the ripple effect of Mirage Herb is beyond description. Therefore, it is an item that an ordinary person cannot easily obtain without someone's permission.

*But those refugees from before….*

“Just as I thought. There was something strange about those refugees. They're Dopein soldiers.”

Lucy crossed her arms, her expression grave, cementing Walter's suspicion.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

By the time the fire was suppressed and the bodies were recovered, the afternoon was nearly gone.

Zen, who had barely managed to compose himself while gathering and burning the mementos of the dead, burst into tears again at the sight of the elder and the children, overcome with relief.

“Elder! How…! I thought you had passed away too…! I'm so glad. Truly, truly glad…!”

His mountain-like frame hugging the elder looked reassuring at first glance, but his face, streaming with tears, was truly that of a young child reunited with a lost parent.

The elder patted Zen's back, repeating over and over that it was okay, not to worry. Though the two shared no resemblance, the fond way they looked at each other and the hand patting the back were so alike, one could have mistaken them for father and son.

Watching the two Lycans sitting on the ground sharing their reunion, Lucy dusted off her dirty hands.

“To think a long-awaited family reunion would turn out like this... Tsk. I didn't expect the borderlands to be peaceful, but this is just too much.”

After ordering his men to finish up around the graves, Walter took out a handkerchief and began to personally wipe Lucy's hands.

“Considering it's right after the war, we should have strengthened our patrols... I have failed both Your Majesty and Zen.”

“This place is far from even the nearest post. It's not your fault, so there's no need to blame yourself. The problem is those Dopein bastards who crawled all the way out here.”

The fault lies with the humans who scorched this village to the ground. Lucy turned her gaze to the children huddled at the village entrance.

“What should we do with the children?”

“If they were human children, we would entrust them to a welfare facility like an orphanage or a poorhouse, but…”

“Why? Can't Lycans go?”

“Well… there's the shedding, the teething, and the full moon is also a slight issue. They have many habits that differ from humans, so I'm not sure if there's a suitable place to entrust them to.”

*Shedding and teething.* In any other situation, it might have sounded amusing, but upon reflection, it was a rather important issue. After all, while Lycans and humans seemed similar, they possessed entirely different values and lifestyles.

After a moment of thought, Lucy took her hand from her chin and spoke.

“As the form, so the mind... I can think of one place that offers salvation to anyone, regardless of race.”

“…Are you referring to the temple?”

“Indeed. I will entrust the children to the Nameless God. Since they preach at length about saving the common people, they're unlikely to refuse.”

It was a bold declaration, but Lucy soon remembered that all the monks were bald and fell into a dilemma, wondering if they would have to shave all the little Lycans' fur.

Walter, noticing her concern, was caught between laughing and sharing her serious expression when the elder approached and bowed his head to Lucy.

“I have heard that Your Majesty is the new ruler of Parnas. I thank you sincerely for your help.”

“You are also a citizen of the kingdom, so it is only natural to protect you. Pay it no mind. You, on the other hand, must steel your heart and devote your energy to caring for the children.”

Just as Lucy was about to conclude her stern words, she suddenly remembered a question she had pushed to the back of her mind and moved closer to the elder.

“Come to think of it, I heard something rather interesting earlier... Is it true that this village is unaffected by the full moon?”

“That is correct. From the village to the vicinity of the lake, the moon's curse does not reach at all.”

“How is that possible?”

At the direct question, the elder closed his mouth and glanced around warily.