Chapter 145

“Sir, I think you’ll have to get off here.”

At the coachman’s careful words, Amethus rose from his seat.

The air sticking to his skin felt clammy. It was strange, as it didn’t seem like it was going to rain.

“The road is blocked, so it’s difficult for the carriage to go any further. It wasn’t like this originally……”

He glanced sideways while holding the reins.

Large stones and fallen trees were piled up on the narrow road.

It looked as if a large beast had thrown a tantrum and left.

Amethus got a strange feeling.

His jade eyes noticed that the horses were anxious and that the coachman had no desire to pass through this road.

“Does this road lead to Busen?”

“Yes. Once you cross the hill, you should see the sandy beach right away.”

“Then that’s fine.”

He took out a few silver coins from his pocket and gave them to the coachman.

It was double the promised price.

“You may return now.”

“Oh my. You don’t have to give me all this……”

The coachman accepted the silver coins with a huge grin.

“The original promise was to take you all the way to Busen……”

“The road is like this, so it can’t be helped.”

“Hehe, but what business do you have in a rural place like Busen? I’ve been there a couple of times, but it’s just a fishing village that stinks of fish.”

Instead of answering, Amethus took out two more silver coins and gave them to the coachman.

The coachman was a quick-witted man.

He instantly shut his mouth and put on a bright face as if he knew nothing.

“Yes. I’ll be on my way now. Take care, sir!”

I’ll get to drink some good liquor tonight.

The coachman hummed a tune and took the reins.

The carriage quickly grew distant.

Amethus waited for the coachman to disappear before he started walking.

The path leading to a small hill was engulfed by trees and grew dark abruptly.

The path was narrow and dark.

Among the trees, the jade eyes retraced their master’s words.

‘The beginning of the Calamity from the Sea was a massive horde of fishmen.’

That’s what Shion had said.

‘The south is a place where monsters rarely appear anyway, so everyone was unprepared.’

While they thought one or two fishmen would be fine, a horde of tens of thousands of fishmen swept over the Bururade Peninsula.

By the time the Peninsula Alliance organized a subjugation force, it was already too late.

Countless private homes were plundered, and innocent blood was shed.

‘I should have noticed earlier. For that number of fishmen to occur naturally.’

I was too optimistic.

Looking at it now, it was obviously the Empire’s doing.

A calamity to weaken the West before the invasion, the horde of tens of thousands of fishmen was one of those measures.

‘The village called Busen is also a hatchery for fishmen. I don’t know anything more than that.’

No matter how much of a Regression Prince he was, there was no way for him to know things he hadn’t experienced.

There was no way to know what methods the Cordis Empire used to create the fishmen, or what kind of defenses they had set up in that village.

‘But what is there to worry about?’

Amethus mulled over his master’s words.

‘You know it too. No matter how humble you act, west of the great mountain range, in this West, there is no one who can defeat you.’

Shion had called Amethus the best in the West.

Saying that unless it was one of the three heroes from before the regression, like the White Lord, no one could surpass him.

But the White Lord was gone.

Therefore, Shion was certain, and certain again, that Amethus was the best swordsman in the West.

Amethus was not one to praise himself, but he did have a minimum level of pride in his swordsmanship.

He was only grateful to Shion for recognizing this.

Even walking alone on such a gloomy and secluded path, if he had his double-edged sword, there was nothing to fear.

‘So think of it simply. Just go and cut them all down.’

***

After crossing the hill, his view opened up for a moment.

Just as he thought the sea would appear before his eyes, the boundary soon blurred into a haze.

‘Fog…’

Fog rolled in at an unusually fast speed.

Even when Amethus’s eyes flashed, he couldn’t easily pierce through it.

He contemplated whether to swing his sword and get rid of the nearby fog in one go.

It wouldn’t have been a difficult task, but he decided against it.

Doing so would be like declaring his arrival to the village of Busen.

Instead, he walked on.

Even as the thick fog tried to obscure his vision, it was not enough to block Amethus’s sharp eyes.

However, the moisture that clung tenaciously to his skin was quite unpleasant.

Amethus shook his head.

In the distance, a sandy beach, and next to it, tightly clustered houses, came into view.

From afar, the village of Busen was reminiscent of barnacles stuck to a rock.

They were too close to each other, yet their walls were high as if to hide their interiors, and a strange dampness seemed to hang in the air.

A fishy smell mingled with the moisture.

Some of it was the smell of the sea, and some of it was not.

It was unpleasantly fishy, and he couldn’t quite place what it was.

After a moment of thought, Amethus realized that this smell was similar to the stench of rotting fish.

‘I’ve entered the village, yet there are no people…’

It was an unfriendly village.

There were no signs indicating this was Busen, nor were there any fences dividing the village boundary.

As he walked, he was suddenly surrounded by houses.

‘…In the distance, though, the sound of footsteps.’

Even in the thick fog, Amethus heard it clearly.

However, the other party seemed to be unaware of Amethus’s presence yet.

So he deliberately stepped hard on a thick tree branch, making a snapping sound.

“…Who’s there?”

“Are you a villager?”

Amethus walked toward the direction the voice came from.

The voice in the fog asked back, tinged with a slight bewilderment and deep caution.

“…Who are you? I haven’t seen you before.”

“I came to the village of Busen on business but got lost in the thick fog. How do I get to the village?”

“…You’re already in Busen.”

A man emerged from the fog.

He had shaggy hair and a red nose.

Even though the sun hadn’t set yet, he looked as if he had been drinking heavily.

He looked Amethus up and down, then his movement froze at the double-edged sword at his waist.

“…A knight?”

“Just a swordsman.”

“…Anyway, you use a sword.”

“That’s right.”

Amethus said gently.

There was no reason not to.

“…What business brings you to a backwater village like this?”

“It’s business-related.”

A field scout dispatched from the Bururade Canal Company.

It was the fake identity Shion had fabricated for Amethus.

It was to ensure that he wouldn’t look suspicious even if he went around poking into remote corners of the Bururade Peninsula.

“If it’s alright, could I ask you to guide me around the village?”

“…Get lost.”

The man suddenly spat out a curse.

He even pointed a finger in anger.

“Get lost, right now…!”

He cursed in a small whisper.

It seemed as if he was trying not to be overheard by someone.

Amethus didn’t react and the man continued to spit. He even seemed somewhat desperate.

“What is there to see in a village like this…! I said get lost, right now…!”

“Even if you say that, it’s my job.”

“You, you’re so frustrating…!”

The man scratched his shaggy hair vigorously.

Amethus noticed that the man’s eyes were trembling very hard and that for someone with a red nose, he seemed quite clear-headed.

If he was clear-headed, why was he so anxious?

The man, as if having made up his mind, slowly approached Amethus, trembling, and opened his mouth.

“…Hey, mister outsider, this village is not what you think……”

While speaking, the man continuously looked to his sides.

The way his lips trembled, it was clear he was terrified.

Yet the man continued his warning.

“So get lost…! Hurry up and get lost…!”

“That won’t do, Kobet.”

“Village chief…!”

The man’s name seemed to be Kobet.

He stared wide-eyed at the old man who had suddenly appeared, and then fell silent.

Amethus thought that if he had known Kobet would be that surprised, he should have told him the chief was approaching.

“Hmm, a guest? Where are you from?”

“I’m from the Bururade Canal Company.”

“Oh! Ohh? Is the sun finally shining on our village?”

The village chief laughed with a ‘hik, hik’ sound.

His protruding eyes were like a fish’s.

He chatted about how he had thought the Bururade Grand Canal would pass through their village, and how disappointed he was that it didn’t.

The shaggy-haired Kobet quietly watched them from the side.

“A good guest. A very good guest.”

The old man stroked his glistening lips.

Upon seeing the double-edged sword at Amethus’s waist, he seemed to think about something for a moment but soon grinned again.

“And the timing is very good, too. Are you planning to stay, guest?”

“I’ll have to.”

“For how long?”

“Not for long.”

“You can stay for a long time, if you like.”

My, what a handsome man.

The old man kept laughing with that ‘hik, hik’ sound, for what reason he was so pleased.

As if he had gills, his neck moved back and forth every time he laughed.

“It’s a small village, so there are no inns. You’ll have to stay at our house……”

“But your house has children, village chief…?”

Kobet cautiously opened his mouth.

“…You know, right? My house has a spare room……”

“Oh, right, oh, that’s right. Then may I ask a favor of you, Kobet?”

“…Of course.”

Kobet bowed his head.

Amethus watched the situation where his lodging had been decided without him saying a single word and let out a small laugh.

The village chief did not know the meaning of that laugh.

Instead, he patted Kobet’s shoulder.

“…You know, right? Since he’s a guest after a long time, you have to treat him with great hospitality……”

“Yes……”

“With very, very great hospitality……”

With those last words, the village chief disappeared back into the fog.

As if he were one with the fog, he was out of sight after just a few steps.

But thankfully, the fishy smell lessened once the chief was gone.

Kobet looked at the spot where the chief had disappeared and then at Amethus, his face clouded with worry.

“…Follow me, mister outsider.”

He looked at Amethus with pity and soon started walking.

“…I will guide you to my house.”

***

Kobet’s house was a little away from the village.

He deliberately acted cheerful and asked various questions.

Amethus answered by making things up roughly. Kobet didn’t seem that interested either.

It was a dirty house.

But the stench was the least in the village.

It seemed that the strongly scented herbs hung here and there were suppressing the fishy smell.

Upon entering his house, he was surprised at how sweet the air without the stench was.

Once back home, Kobet locked the door.

There were four locks.

Next, he closed the windows and drew the thick curtains.

The curtains were also double-layered, so that not a single bit of outside light could seep in.

Probably, the light from inside wouldn’t leak out either.

He blocked off the inside and outside of the house like a paranoid person.

His movements were so urgent that one might expect a ‘whirr’ sound.

Thinking it might be helpful, Amethus took out a small barrier device from his pocket and activated it.

Kobet, who had tightly sealed the doors and windows, asked Amethus as if he was about to pounce on him.

“Hey, you…!”

Despite his angry attitude, his voice was still small.

“What on earth are you doing in this village…!?”

“I said it was business-related.”

“…Damn it, that’s not what I asked……”

Kobet’s face, revealed under the lantern light, was full of wrinkles.

His voice sounded like he was not even thirty, but his face looked forty.

He looked like someone who had been tormented by something for a long time.

“…Damn it, damn it, what bad luck, you. You picked the wrong day, a very wrong day……”

He muttered, his teeth chattering nervously.

“Any other time, there would have been a few days’ grace, but it’s tomorrow……”

“Tomorrow?”

“…No time to explain. I can’t explain either. Just run, mister outsider, if you don’t run tonight, you will die.”

Amethus tapped the double-edged sword at his waist.

“I am quite skilled.”

“…No! No, that’s not the problem……”

Kobet shook his head back and forth with a terrified face.

“If they come… if they come, with a sword alone……”

There was a splashing sound.

It was outside the window.

“……”

Kobet slowly turned his head.

He very carefully opened the curtain just a little and looked outside.

The foggy, dark sea, and among the swaying waves, there were several figures.

“Oh, oh……”

The bizarre figures reached the sandy beach.

Every time they walked, a squelching, squelching sound, audible even from a distance, was made.

They resembled humans, but it seemed they had webbed feet.

The figures walked slowly as if swimming through the fog, and they were steadily getting closer to them.

“…Why, why already……. So soon……”

Kobet’s face seemed to melt.

It was because frustration and despair, fear and anxiety, had seized his heart in an instant.

He stared at the bizarre approaching figures, muttering, that window, that window.

Even though he was so scared, he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

The inside of the hut was filled entirely with his fear.

“Mr. Kobet.”

“…Damn it, damn it……”

“I will ask just one thing.”

Amethus was composed.

Without any worry, he just gripped his double-edged sword.

“Are those things enemies?”

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