BXBX NOVEL Chapter Volume 1 7
The mountain range that runs through the border between the Empire and the Kingdom—-The Azerlisia Mountain Range. At its southern base was a large forest—-The Great Forest of Tob. It was a small village just apart from it.
The population was about 120. A village with 25 families was not that rare in the Re-Estize Kingdom.
The distance between it and the fortress city, E-Rantel was about 50 kilometers. It was a distance that would take 2 days on foot.
Harvesting the blessings of the forest and agricultural produce were their main sources of income.
Excluding the merchant that comes thrice a year to buy the herbs the villagers harvested from the forest, the tax collector only comes once a year. People mostly do not come, and the words stopped in time would suit the village perfectly, and such a thing was common in the villages of the Kingdom.
Enri Emmot had lived in that village for about 16 years.
The mornings were early. She woke up at roughly the same time that the sun rose. Unlike large cities where they was magic lighting, such a scene was commonplace in this village.
The first thing she did was to draw water from the well near her house. Water drawing was a woman’s job. When she filled up the large pot in her house with water, the first job would be over. Her mother would be finished preparing breakfast around that time, so the 4 of them would have breakfast.
Breakfast would be an oatmeal of barley or wheat. There would also be cooked vegetables. Occasionally there would be dried fruits as well.
Then her father and mother would leave for the fields. Her 12 year old sister would head to the forest to get firewood and then help out in the fields. In the centre of the village—-The bell in the plaza would ring at about noon. Then they would stop their work and break for lunch.
Lunch was black bread that was baked several days prior. There was also a soup that had scraps of dried meat added inside.
Afterwards was more fieldwork. When the sky begins to redden, she would return from the fields to prepare dinner.
Dinner was the same black bread that she had for lunch. Along with some bean soup. If they had some meat from a hunter, there would be some meat in it as well. And while talking with her family in the light of the kitchen, she would stitch fraying parts of her and her family’s clothes.
Her bedtime was about 6pm.
That sort of daily life.
She thought that it would continue indefinitely.
On that day, Enri had welcomed the morning as always, and had went to the well.
Pulling up a bucket of water, she transferred the water to a small jar. It would take 3 trips to fill up the pot they had in their house.
“Okay.”
Enri rolled up her sleeves and carried the jar. Although the jar would become considerably heavier when water was added, she found it quite easy to carry.
While thinking that it was fun, Enri began to return home.
At that moment, she heard something and turned in that direction. The atmosphere was tense and she got goosebumps.
—-It was the sound of wood breaking.
And then—-
“A scream—-?”
While it sounded like a strangled bird, it was different.
It sent chills down her spine. It couldn’t be happening. Just my imagination. I’m wrong. Words of denial flashed through her mind.
Panic spread through her body. The scream came from the direction of her home.
She let go of the jar. There was no way she could hold such a heavy object.
Her long skirt got entangled with her legs, but fortunately she maintained her balance.
Once again, she heard a voice.
Enri’s heart pounded in her chest.
Screaming. She was not wrong.
Running. Running. Running.
She did not remember ever running this fast before. She ran at such a speed that she almost entangled her legs with one another.
The neighing of horses. The screams of humans. Crying voices.
They were becoming louder.
In Enri’s vision, she saw a man wearing armour swinging a sword at a villager from afar.
The villager screamed, and then collapsed. The sword that was about to pierce him stopped.
“Molga-san.”
Everyone knew everyone in such a small village. She knew the dead man well. He was occasionally a bit noisy but he was still a good person. He did not deserve to die like this. She was about to stop but—-She grit her teeth and put more strength into her legs.
The distance which she usually never noticed, was now extremely long.
She began to hear roars and jeering. In the midst of that, her house finally entered her vision.
“Otou-san! Okaa-san! Nemu!”
While yelling the names of her family members, she swung the house door open.
There she saw 3 frightened faces with a pouch in one hand. Those faces disappeared when they saw Enri and changed into a look of relief.
“Enri! Are you okay?!”
“Ah, Enri……”
Her mother’s warm hands held her in a hug.
“Now, Enri’s here. Hurry and escape!”
The current situation of the Emmots was quite bad. As they were worried about Enri and did not leave for fear of passing her. They did not know when she would return and they could not just abandon a family member.
And so they lost the time to escape, and now danger had arrived.
They were about to leave when—-A shadow appeared at the entrance. Sunlight glinted off of the back of the knight’s platemail. His crest was that of the Baharuth Empire. His clenched hand wielded a sword.
The Baharuth Empire—-The neighbouring country to the Re-Estize Kingdom. It occasionally went to war with the Kingdom. However, the war usually only took place in the walled city of E-Rantel, they had never extended their reach her.
However, that eternal peace was broken.
From the gaps in the helm, Enri felt a cold gaze counting their numbers. Enri felt his gaze licking her, it was very unpleasant.
The knight gripped the sword tightly, causing the grip to squeak.
He was about to enter the house when—-
“Arrgh!!”
“Umph!”
—-Her father tackled the knight who had entered. The two of them tumbled out of the house together.
“—-Hurry up and go!!”
“You bastard!”
Blood rolled down her father’s face. He probably got cut when they were fighting.
While her father and the knight were fighting, they fell to the ground. While her father was stabbing with his knife. And while the knight was stabbing with his short sword.
While seeing her family’s blood, Enri’s head completely blanked out. Would it be better to help her father, or would it be better to run away.
“Enri! Nemu!”
Her mother’s cries pulled her back to reality, and her mother pulled a bitter face.
Enri gripped her sister’s hand and pulled. She resisted the sudden pull but, they needed to get to the great forest as soon as possible.
The screams of horses, shouts, the clashing of metal. And then—-A sour smell.
The places around the village—-They dived into Enri’s nose, ears and eyes. Where were they from? While experiencing this, they ran. When running through a wide place, you should make yourselves as small as possible. With this in mind, they kept to the shadows of the houses.
Her body was frozen by fear. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It was not just from the running. The small hand within hers was moving as well.
—-Her sister’s life.
Running slightly in front, her mother was about to turn a corner when she stiffened, and then quickly retreated.
Her hand gesturing at her to run.
The moment she realised the reason, Enri’s mouth narrowed, and she stifled her crying voice.
She gripped her sister’s hand and ran away. She did not want to see what happened next.
The edge of the village got closer.
The running Enri heard the noisy sound of clanging metal. It was a constant sound.
She prayed and looked behind her. It was just as she had thought. The worst case, a single knight was chasing after them.
Just a little more. She suppressed her feelings which she wanted to throw up. She could not waste effort on them.
She was breathing heavily. She felt that she could collapse at any moment. If she was alone she would probably have stopped a long time ago. The presence of her sister gave her the strength to move.
She took a glance back.
The distance between them had not changed. Even while wearing armour, there was no decline in his speed.
Sweat dripped down her body and she felt cold. If this continued……She could not escape with her sister.
—-Let go.
Enri heard those words.
—-If you’re alone you might escape.
—-Do you want to die here?
—-It might be safer to escape alone.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Enri grit her teeth while spitting out those words. She put more strength into her grip.
She was a terrible sister, thinking about these sort of things.
“Hurry, run!”
“Ye, yes.”
Why did her sister who about to cry not do so?
It was simple. It was because she believed in Enri. She believed that her sister could get them out of this.
“Ah!”
Taking large strides to match her own, her sister lost her balance. Enri was also pulled down by her.
“Quickly stand!”
“Yes.”
However, a lot of time was lost.
Enri heard the creak of a chain right next to her. The knight had stopped to catch his breath. The sword in his hand was wet with blood. It did not stop there. His armour and helmet also had bloodstains.
Enri shielded the back of her sister and glared at the knight.
“If you stop resisting, I won’t make it painful.”
There was no kindness there. Just mockery. Even if you run, I will still kill you. He used such a tone.
Enri flared up. What was this person saying?
Enri faced the knight, who slowly raised his sword. It was about to move downwards and slice through Enri—-
“Don’t look down on us!!”
“Urgh—-”
—-Enri hurled her fist at the knight’s iron helmet. Her body’s anger and the desire to protect her sister were kept in her fist. There was no fear in her punch. It was a punch that had the power of her whole body.
The sound of broken bones could be heard, the momentarily delayed pain ran through her whole body. The knight reeled heavily backwards from her punch.
“—-Quickly!”
“Yes!”
Ignoring the pain, Enri was about to run when—-She felt a red-hot pain on her back.
“—-Urgh!”
“You Bitchhhhhh!!”
Being beaten by a girl he was underestimating was humiliating. It caused the knight to lose his composure.
Although Enri was alive, the knight had lost his composure. Since they had tried to escape, it was normal for him to be swinging his sword at them. They were not lucky. Enri was wounded and the knight was furious. There was no way out of this alive.
Enri understood fully. The chance that they could escape was very low. There was still quite a distance between them and the forest. She did not think that they could escape from a knight on horseback. There was also the option of going back home and hiding in the hidden basement. However, he probably would not allow that.
She was sorry for dying, but the important thing was to protect her sister. She would try to replace her sister’s life with hers.
The burning pain on her back throbbed in rhythm with her heartbeat. A sticky substance was flowing out.
—-But she still ran.
Enri grit her teeth, and distanced herself from the kni—-
Then she saw despair.
There was darkness—-.
It was the embodiment of death. An undefeatable existence.
Clad in a jet-black robe, it looked like darkness had spilled over from another world.
A face of nothing but bone, his empty eye sockets held a shimmering red flame, as if searching for prey.
Divine and yet terrifying, the staff he was clutching had collected all the beauty in this world.
The air froze.
In the presence of the ruler of despair, even time itself froze.
Enri forgot how to breathe.
It would kill herself and her sister. That was why she could see it, the figure of an envoy appeared from another world.
Enri thought that. At least until the movement of the knight behind her stopped.
“Kah……”
She heard the breath of someone who could not even scream.
Who had urinated?* It could have been herself, or it could have been her quivering sister, or maybe it was the sword-wielding knight. She no longer felt any pain. In fact, she could not feel anything apart from fear.
TL: Is there a better way to phrase this. I cannot come up with anything right now.
Slowly, the fleshless bony fingers moved—-It extended past Enri and as if to grab something, formed a splayed hand at the knight. She wanted to avert her gaze, but she could not move due to her fear. If she looked away, it seemed that something even more terrifying would happen.
“Ah……”
The sound of metal and screaming combined to make a harsh sound. Her heart was beating too fast, it seemed that it would stop at any moment.
<Grasp Heart>
At the moment when the embodiment of death made a gripping motion, a sound of clattering metal could be heard from behind her.
Moving her eyes away from [Death] was indeed scary, but she lost to the small curiosity in her heart and sent her gaze to the knight sprawled on the ground. The knight was no longer moving.
Dead.
Yes, dead.
The danger that she was running away from had left this world so simply that it was laughable. However, she could not enjoy it. Because [Death] had changed its shape, becoming thicker.
[Death] moved. It faced Enri.
The darkness in her vision grew larger. It would consume Enri wouldn’t it, those thoughts floated around in her brain.
Enri hugged her sister tightly.
The idea of escape was no longer in her head. If the person was human then she could at least have a fleeting hope and still move. But, the existence in front of her simply blew away such hopes.
An instantaneous death. That was what she wished for.
Her sister was hugging her waist and shivering in fear. She wanted to save her, yet she could not. She could do nothing but apologise for her own powerlessness. At least she would not be alone when she died.
And then—-
“Eh?”
—-Enri let out a dumbfounded voice.
[Death] had walked right past her.