SWY 98

Sharhan turned his gaze forward again and shot an arrow at the head of a corpse charging at them with a dangling chunk of red flesh stuck between its teeth. The arrow whistled sharply through the air and struck the creature’s head dead on.

Grrrr!

The other corpses, who had been gorging themselves on flesh, creaked as they stood. Behind them lay two bodies, devoured down to just their skulls, with no chance of ever rising again.

Lestel jumped off his horse, raised his axe, and charged straight at the corpses, swinging it down onto their heads without hesitation. Sharhan remained on horseback, firing arrows in support. Since the number of corpses was small, there was no need for Derry to get involved. Instead, he kept his eyes wide open, staying alert to their surroundings. Thankfully, no other corpses came running at the sound. It looked like these were the only ones nearby.

“Catch that bastard!”

A young woman leapt down from the beech tree and shouted to Sharhan while pointing at a house. Turning his head, he saw a man burst out through the flung-open door. Limping badly as though injured, the man began fleeing in the opposite direction.

“What are you waiting for?!”

“Anyone else inside?”

“I said catch him already!”

“I’m asking if anyone else is hiding!”

“No! So just go after him!”

Sharhan, deciding it was safe if there were no others in hiding, returned the nocked arrow to the quiver on his back, keeping his hands free. With most of the corpses taken care of by Lestel, only two remained. He watched absently as a one-armed corpse let out a screech and lunged at Lestel, only to have its head and torso separated by a clean swing of Lestel’s axe.

“Why should I?”

“Just go get him already!”

“You can do it yourself. So go ahead.”

The girl, glaring at Sharhan, pulled a stone from her pouch and fired it at the fleeing man with a slingshot. The stone whistled through the air and struck the man square in the back. Staggering from the hit, he lost balance and fell, and the girl sprinted after him without hesitation.

“Aren’t you going to help her?”

Peter asked urgently, but Sharhan remained unmoved.

“No.”

“Why not?”

Peter glanced between the two, fidgeting anxiously.

“She’s handling it fine on her own.”

As Sharhan said, the girl, her vivid red hair trailing behind her, charged at the fallen man with fearless determination. When the man swung his short spear, she skillfully countered with a blade she had drawn at some point. Sharhan, just in case, nocked another arrow and watched their fight closely.

She’s pretty good.

The girl quickly subdued the man. After slicing his chest, she struck the back of his neck as he staggered, knocking him unconscious. Then she turned to Sharhan, her lips curled into a smug grin, as if to say, See that?

“Ardelle?”

Lestel, having just finished off the last corpse, murmured in surprise as he wiped the blood and gore from his axe. He had only just now noticed her after focusing on the moving corpes.

As if to answer his murmur, the girl dragging the unconscious man by the scruff of his neck was indeed Ardelle. Despite the man’s large build and weight, she pulled him without much visible effort.

‘She was always strong, even as a kid. Still is, apparently.’

Watching Ardelle, who had managed to survive in this world fairly intact, left Sharhan with a complicated feeling. There was a part of him that was genuinely glad to see someone from his past alive, but another part that felt vaguely uneasy. Especially seeing Ardelle run toward Lestel with a bright, shy expression.

“Lestel!”

She didn’t even glance at Sharhan and ran straight for Lestel, practically bursting with joy.

“You’re alive.”

Even though Lestel replied indifferently, Ardelle looked as if she’d just received a blessing from the gods. But when she turned and saw Sharhan, her smile quickly soured.

“Yeah, you too. Good to see you made it. Sharhan, you’re not dead either, huh?”

“Yeah, good to see you too, brat.”

Sharhan gave a half-hearted wave with an expression that was anything but friendly.

“Who are you calling brat?!”

Ardelle, who had always been tiny as a child and thus earned that nickname from Sharhan, glared at him with her large eyes. After dismounting, Sharhan stood deliberately close to Lestel and gave her a once-over. Her face poking out through the leaves had made her instantly recognizable, she hadn’t changed at all. Only her height had grown.

Back then, she always had her long red hair tied back and followed Lestel around in trousers with a slingshot in hand, and even that hadn’t changed. The only real difference was that, instead of hunting beasts as a childish gift of betrothal, she now used her slingshot to hunt corpses and people.

At some point, Ardelle had disappeared from his life. According to his mother, she’d been caught by the baroness and put through all sorts of etiquette lessons to become a proper noble lady. But being the kind who preferred swinging a sword in the training yard over sitting still indoors, she kept running away, much to the baroness’s dismay.

His mother had also said, “If she’d been born a boy, she would’ve ended up above Baron Hines.” And Sharhan agreed. Ardelle had better sword skills than her older brother, the heir Gastan. She was brave, wise, and compassionate.

“Miss, do you know these men?”

Peter asked, clearly confused.

“Yep. This dark-haired guy is my rival, and the silver-haired one is my first love. Wait–Peter! What are you doing here?! Do you know how shocked I was to see you? I told you to stay hidden until I came back!”

Ardelle, who had answered with a smile while staring at Lestel, suddenly turned serious. Peter’s shoulders shrank under her scolding.

“Th-the kids were starving… I went to our old village to look for food. These men found me and offered to take me back. I’m sorry…”

Sighing, Ardelle walked over and patted Peter’s back.

“With the little food left, the kids couldn’t have even had a proper meal.”

“……”

Peter nodded and tried to dismount. Sharhan gently helped him down.

“You went alone because you’re the oldest?”

“Yes. Miss said I had to protect the others.”

Ardelle smiled and ruffled his hair.

“You’re a good kid. And I’m so glad you’re safe. I’m sorry I was so late coming back. I saw the ones who were taking kids and tried to chase them, but I got caught. I don’t know if the kids are okay. They’ve probably been starving for days.”

Her voice was full of worry for the children left behind.

“What about the man?”

Peter looked around, searching, his face falling when he realized Ardelle had come alone.

“He helped me escape. Told me to run ahead while he lured them away in the other direction. I hope he’s still alive.”

“Were those the ones chasing you?”

Sharhan pointed to the two skeletal corpses and the unconscious man.

“Yeah. There were three of them. I managed to take out two with help from the moving corpses. I hid in a tree and slung a stone at the last one when he ran into that house. I aimed for the back of his head, but I hit his knee instead. I couldn’t move while the corpses were feeding, I was afraid he’d follow and find the kids. I was totally stuck. Then you guys showed up. I thought I was seeing things. I mean, Lestel and you? You look exactly the same as when you were a kid. Haven’t changed at all.”

“Says the one talking. You haven’t changed a bit, still as chatty as ever.”

Sharhan flicked his ear dramatically, as if she were hurting his eardrums. Ardelle scrunched up her nose in annoyance.

“How are you still just as irritating as before? At least Lestel is still as handsome as ever. Lestel, how long’s it been? Not quite three years, right?”

“What?”

Not quite three years…? That meant she and Lestel had met while Sharhan was gone.