Pushing our way through the prival forest, where even the weeds towered over a person’s head, we erged before a massive boulder that had been hidden beneath the trees. On the open plains, this grand stone might’ve been nad a monunt. But here, drowned in waves of trees and overgrowth, it was just another moss-covered formation.
Beneath the stone wall of tangled vines and moss lay the Fiou village.
“This is Fiou Village. The village of those who die easily. Since they’re vulnerable to beasts and disease, we built their ho deep in the forest to protect them.”
The Fiou village was strikingly different from the Undying’s. It had proper fences, guard towers, and patrols. Structurally, it looked several tis more fortified than the Undying village.
Yet outside the fence, tombstones and scraps of clothing fluttered quietly—proof of how familiar this village was with loss.
“She’s a Fiou, so she lives here. Though, I’ll warn you—she’s not exactly delicate.”
Rash pounded on the gate with his fist. A guard spotted his face and hurried down from the watchpost to open the doors.
“Mr. Rash! You’ve returned!”
“I’m back. Everything all right?”
“Well, this village never runs out of trouble, does it? Not with Callis around.”
“How’s she doing?”
“If by ‘doing well’ you an ‘sa as usual,’ then yes. Otherwise... well, still the sa. Co in, I’ll show you.”
The guard led us in—into a village of Fiou who lived within space borrowed from the Undying. A people familiar with sorrow and the reality of loss.
“Move it, move it! We’re falling behind schedule!”
“Lunch is coming up! You better be done before then!”
The grind of iron, smoke billowing from a towering chimney. Square hos built from industrial alchemic cent. A massive wall clock let out an alarm, prompting the villagers to drop what they were doing and head for the smoking ss hall.
A barbarian village deep in the wild—yet it all felt strangely familiar.
“...What is this place?”
The regressor glanced around with open discomfort.
What greeted us in this unfamiliar land was an echo of a long-abandoned past: the Military State. A town of tal and stone humming with frictional noise—so out of place among lush green wilderness. The barbarians, dressed in imitation military uniforms patched from leaves and cloth, perford drills in clumsy formation.
A slice of artificial civilization dropped in the middle of nature’s peace. And at the center of it all stood a woman with fiery red hair, slim in build, directing everyone around her.
“You there. Hold it right there.”
Callis—forrly Lieutenant Colonel of the Military State, now here after the collapse of the Abyss, following Rash into the wild. Once a uniford officer, she now wore practical clothes, full of daily wear and tear, but her commanding tone hadn’t changed.
The woman she addressed—dressed in crude clothing made from leaves—flinched and hunched in alarm. Callis spoke firmly and coldly.
“If you want to eat, get in line. If people skip the order, there’s no point in having rules.”
“I’m hungry!”
“Wait just a bit. You line up, and food gets distributed in that order. That’s the most reasonable way to feed everyone.”
The woman was a head taller than Callis, with thicker arms and neck. She glared as if ready to settle this with brute strength.
But when Callis raised her mana and summoned flas at her fingertips, the woman shrieked and bolted.
“Demon!”
“It’s magic.”
“Demon magic!”
“I’ve told you over and over, magic is a technology.”
Even dropped in the wild, she couldn’t shed that officer’s air.
With cool, unyielding composure, Callis lit the kitchen fire with a casual toss of flas. The workers resud cooking like nothing had happened.
Even here, in this village of barbarians, the Military State’s magic officer still played the part of a commanding officer. The regressor clicked her tongue.
“So things really don’t change. A person stays the sa, no matter the environnt.”
“That’s not true, boy. You’d be surprised how much she’s changed.”
Rash strode confidently toward Callis. With his towering physique, he was hard to miss. The mont she spotted him, her sharp gaze softened.
“Rash!”
The stern magic officer from earlier vanished in an instant. Callis bead and ran toward him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him without hesitation.
The regressor stumbled, visibly stunned by the unexpected scene.
“W-what the heck?!”
They clung to each other, kissing without the slightest care for who might be watching. It was so intense and heated, it bordered on indecent. The kind of kiss that made you wonder—is this how barbarians express love?
The regressor took a step back, visibly appalled.
“What the hell are they doing all of a sudden?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“What do you an? They’re engaged. A kiss like that is practically nothing.”
“Nothing? They’re doing that out in the open! Where everyone can see!”
“You’re acting like they started having sex right here. It’s just a kiss.”
“Hey! Why would you bring that up now?!”
“Why are you yelling? I was just saying—it’s not like they actually did anything.”
While we bickered pointlessly, Callis and Rash finally pulled apart, looking just a little reluctant. Callis checked him over, concern softening her features.
“Are you all right? The Monastery of Blood is ho to high-ranking vampires. Wasn’t that way too reckless?”
“No. As the rumors said, that nun shows courtesy to those who approach unard. She granted permission for the wedding—and gave this as proof.”
“What is it?”
“Fur from the King of Sheep. If you make clothes from it, no fang or claw can pierce it. It's incredibly valuable. With the nun’s consent and this token, even the elders won’t be able to object easily.”
“Rash... but to be accepted as one of them, don’t you still have to undergo the rite?”
“You don’t have to go through /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ it. It’s a tradition of our tribe—why should an outsider like you be forced to follow it? Especially when you’re not one of the Undying. It’s grueling and dangerous. You could die.”
“But still—”
“I can’t bear the thought of even a scratch on your body. Humans who aren’t of the Undying kind can die from the smallest wound. The very idea that I could lose you...”
“Rash...”
“Callis...!”
And once again, they threw their arms around each other and resud their kiss. The regressor and I were left standing awkwardly to the side like forgotten stage props. The regressor, unable to endure the sight any longer, muttered irritably.
“What happened to them? How did they beco that inseparable?”
“You were just complaining about how she hadn’t changed—and now you’re asking how she did. It’s been a while since we saw them. Ti changes people. You and I aren’t the sa as we were in the Abyss, either.”
“What are you even talking about? I’m perfectly fine on my own!”
“Who said we were talking about that kind of relationship?! There’s more than one kind of bond! You’re not so angsty teenager—why are you jumping to that conclusion every ti?!”
“I am past puberty!”
That’s not the point! Argue the part where I called you a girl! You’re crossdressing, rember?! Just once, could you consider that I’m trying to respect your cover and return the favor?
On one side, the kissing continued. On the other, the bickering. And finally, the endless kiss between Callis and Rash ca to a close. The two of them turned and finally acknowledged our presence.
“...You two. From the Abyss.”
“Hello. First ti seeing you since the Abyss, right?”
Back in the Abyss, Callis had infiltrated as part of a secret organization, aiming to capture Azzy, the King of Beasts. Her mission failed, and she barely escaped with her life. After the Abyss collapsed, she and Rash left for the south together. I hadn’t really wondered what beca of her, but now that I saw her face, it was clear she was doing well.
After a mont of recollection, Callis spoke.
“I didn’t think we’d et again like this.”
“Wasn’t exactly a pleasant eting back then, but hey, at least we’re both alive.”
“That may have been true before you arrived. But now that you’re here, tell —what brings the heroes of the world-saving prophecy to this place?”
Her tone held a hint of suspicion—less toward us, and more toward the chaos that tended to follow us. She seed worried about what we might be dragging in.
“I heard you were off adventuring to prevent so coming catastrophe. So—did sothing happen? Or is sothing about to happen?”
“Nothing to worry about. We’re here to deal with sothing. If anything, it’ll help you.”
“And what would that be?”
“They say there’s an ancient evil here, sowhere. We’re supposed to purify it. Don’t really know what it is yet, though.”
“An ancient evil...?”
Callis’s expression darkened imdiately. She glanced around uneasily before speaking again.
“Are you sure... you really ca here to purify an ancient evil?”
The regressor, catching the change in her tone, folded her arms.
“You know sothing?”
“...I may,” Callis said, her gaze sweeping over the villagers.
Like all those who had wandered in search of shelter, the people of Fiou Village carried deep wounds and sorrow. Their eyes spoke of hardship, their movents cautious. And there were far too many of them—more than re refugees should account for. More than the Undying themselves, by the looks of it.
“Lately, more and more people have been coming to Fiou Village. And so of them... started saying strange things.”
“Like what?”
As Rash’s partner—and a mage at that—Callis had inadvertently beco sothing of a de facto village chief. Now she passed on what she’d heard from the villagers.
“They say... an evil god has begun to crawl up from beneath the earth.”
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