Side Stories: Chapter 1
It was nighttime—the time when the moon and even the stars were smoldered by thick clouds and a pitch-blackness enveloped the sky. As if it was supplementing the lack of lights from above, a bright light burned from the ground below. It was an intense firelight that looked high enough to pierce the sky, accompanied by wildly wavering flames that danced as if it was going to turn everything in its surroundings to ashes. A loud shout rang along with it.
“Kill them all! We can’t leave a single Bellid bastard alive!”
“This is our chance to eradicate them all! These guys only cause harm to this world! Search every place that looks suspicious!” In sparkling armor, the Karuwiman commanders shouted. Following their commands, the other holy knights busily sought the Bellid survivors and slaughtered them on sight.
A secretly built temple made to sacrifice to Bellu was broken down to rubble. However, the Karuwiman holy knights didn’t feel satisfied with just that. They continued to bombard the temple with attacks, intending to not leave even a single stone intact. Like that, the Bellid temple was utterly destroyed.
On a mountain, a bit of a distance away where the temple could be seen in clear view, a group of people stared at the temple from above. Each of them showed different responses. Some cried, some chewed their lips so hard that there were bloodstains around their mouths, and some maintained emotionless expressions on their faces as if they were already dead. Yet, even as they expressed themselves in different ways, they all felt the same emotion: fierce hatred. The stronghold of their faith was burning—under the hands of the Karuwimans who they loathed the most.
Naturally, they wanted to scream in wrath and express their rage somehow, but they couldn’t. They had only barely managed to escape the Karuwimans’ siege. If they acted on their emotions right now, they might be able to relieve themselves of the emotional burden, but they would also lose their lives. Thus, they all repressed their rage, and the more they did so, their hate deepened.
“Cardinal.” The figure standing in front of the group approached a priest. “We have got to leave now. The Karuwiman dogs might find us if we stay here any longer.”
“…Yes, we should leave.” The Bellid cardinal and the one in charge of the western Bellid base, Piros Bulington, answered. Although he was a man of high status, that didn’t mean much now. The western Bellid base had been already destroyed by Karuwimans and several nations a year ago, and only a few including Bulington survived the incident with heavy injuries. Thus, they hid themselves for now and Bulington decided to return to the main base after keeping out of their enemies’ sight for some time. It was when Bulington decided to head to the main base when he heard the shocking news: the Bellids’ main base was destroyed, and the Pope was dead.
After some investigation, Bulington learned this to be true and went into hiding again. Since the Pope and the main base were both gone, his priority was protecting his life. Yet, this wasn’t an easy task. The Karuwimans were able to find Bellid temples one after the other for some reason though they were all supposed to be deeply hidden—just like the temple that was burning right now.
‘At this point, I should assume that they know all the locations of our temples.’ It appeared they had to avoid hiding in temples from now on, and Bulington turned around. He looked at the other survivors. They were very few in number and were incredibly dirty-looking. Bulington sighed. How did the Bellids fall to such a state when they shook the whole world in fear and despair and fought against the great Karuwimans on equal footing?
‘No, the reason is obvious.’ It was because the Bellid pope lost the war with the Karuwimans, and from then on, the Bellids were extinguished like bugs—like the nickname Karuwimans called them. It was over for the Bellids. The world, Karuwimans, and even the Bellid members believed this. Yet, Bulington couldn’t give up. He wanted to restore the Bellids’ greatness again.
‘If I can’t do that, I at least want to get revenge!’ Bulington looked behind him. The temple was still fiercely burning, and Bulington stared intently at it as if he was trying to engrave the scene into his eyes.
Flick! In the end, he turned his head. A forest blanketed with darkness, perhaps representative of their future, came into view, but Bulington’s eyes still reflected the burning temple clearly.
“Let’s go.” Bulington led the survivors and hid in the forest while swearing to enact revenge.
Ruuuumble!
As the Bellid temple crumbled, it almost sounded as if lightning had struck the ground.
***
“Thank you so much! H-How can I ever repay your kindness?!” An old man who looked like any typical farmer bowed. He was the chief of this village. His white beard flew in the air as he bent over, and the way his back arched so low showcased the gratitude he was feeling. A young couple was standing in front of the old man, and the blindingly beautiful woman raised the old man back up.
“There’s no need for you to be so grateful. We only did what should be expected of us.”
“But how can I not be! You two saved us! If those guys continued to stay here, all of our village people would’ve become their slaves!”
Not long ago, bandits established themselves near their village. They acted violently, stole the village’s provisions, and harassed the village women. It was then that these two appeared in this state of emergency. They beat the bandits all too easily. The bandits could not even resist properly and were decimated in a matter of seconds by those two. Naturally, the villagers were deeply grateful to them, and the chief expressed his gratitude as the village’s representative.
“This is a gift from our village. It’s not much, but please accept it.” The old man held out an old, worn-out package. There were sounds of coin clinking from the package; the villagers had probably scraped what little money they had to make this package.
The woman, Lyla, pushed the package back into the old man’s hand. “It’s all right. We’ll be more troubled if we accept this.”
“But…”
“The bandits must have caused damage to the village, right? Please use this to repair the damage.”
“She’s right, chief. I’m sorry to say this, but that amount of money doesn’t mean much to us. You should use it for the village instead.” The man, Zich, also supported Lyla’s statement.
The old man fumbled as the two firmly refused the package and finally took it back. “Then, how shall I ever repay this favor…”
“Then, would you be able to give us a simple meal? We’re very hungry. Please, nothing too fancy. You just have to give us what you all usually eat.”
“What? How can we provide such a shabby meal…”
“That would be enough, right?” Zich asked Lyla.
“Yeah.”
The chief didn’t look convinced but followed their words. Like this, the two ate their meals in the village and left with the villagers’ celebration. Honestly, the food hadn’t been delicious; there was little chance that a farmer’s diet in a small village would taste good. On the contrary, Lyla and Zich had a lot of money, so their diet was usually luxurious. Thus, there was no way that a typical meal served in a small village could satisfy their tastes. However, they had no complaints because they only ate it to accept the villagers’ gratitude and didn’t expect it to be delicious.
It was a completely different matter that Zich had complaints about. “There aren’t many bad guys these days.”
“What are you talking about? We just got rid of a bunch right now.” In fact, bandits that harmed and stole from people appeared endlessly in the world. Of course, there were many people among bandits with sad, pitiful stories or poor people who had no choice but to become bandits. Regardless of their sad stories, some still bullied innocent people. Thus, Zich and Lyla showed no mercy to them.
“Not weaklings like them, but those who are worth crushing like Ultel and the Demon People.”
“It’s only in the Era of Demon People that so many Demon People appeared. The world isn’t hellish like that now—and it’ll never be like that either.”
“Tsk! I guess peace isn’t always so good.”
“Just endure it. Your boredom is proof that the world is peaceful. So stop saying nonsense, and let’s quickly go to the next city. I want to sleep in a comfortable place for a while.”
“All right.” The two walked along the road toward the city. Their arms were tightly intertwined as if to show how close their relationship was.
* * *
Lyla and Zich stopped at a large nearby city and booked a high-end lodging to relax after a hard day of work. They only focused on resting without thinking about anything. Since they were in a city, there were many things to enjoy. The food was delicious, and the bed was also comfortable. Above all, they had no complaints because a loved one was next to them. While the two were having a nice and comfortable time, someone came to visit them.
“Hello! I’m so honored to meet the world-renowned Sir Zich and Lady Lyla!” A Karuwiman priest looked at Zich and Lyla with sparkling eyes; respect dripped from them.
“There’s no need to praise us so much,” Lyla said, but the priest firmly denied her words.
“How can I not?! The conqueror of the evil Bellids! Dragon Slayer! Haven’t the two of you saved the world with achievements that only exist in legends?! Sir Zich, you’re also an honorary holy knight! It’s only right for me to treat you with the utmost respect!” These words sincerely came out of the priest’s heart, so Lyla awkwardly laughed.
“So, why did you come to see us?” Zich asked directly.
“Sir Zich and Lady Lyla, it’s been a year since amazing people like you cooperated together to defeat the Bellids.”
“Wow, it’s already been a year.”
“So, we, the Karuwimans, plan to hold a big festival to celebrate the first anniversary of the Bellids’ defeat.”
“Are you asking us to join the festival?”
“Yes, the festival will shine even more if the stars of the Bellid conquest grace it. I’ve already sent a messenger to other people as well.”
“I’m impressed that you managed to find us when we’re wandering around without a destination.”
“As far as I know, the main branch has sent paintings of you two to all the temples and is collecting information about you two. Above all, Sir Zich, your sword is extremely conspicuous.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Windur had a very distinct appearance, so it probably wasn’t difficult to find Zich if they mobilized many people. Moreover, Zich had stopped moving through deserted areas, so it was probably even easier to track him down now.