managed to catch some animals, there would be some meat as well. After dinner, everyone
would use the lights from the kitchen and chat happily, while mending torn clothes.
They would go to sleep around 8 o’ clock.
Enri Emmott was born 16 years ago, and up to this day she had never left the village. She was
wondering, would her days always stay the same?
Just like any other day, Enri got out of bed and went to the well to draw water.
It usually took her about 3 trips to the well in order to fill up the huge water tank.
“Yosh”
Enri rolled up her sleeves and showed off some eye catching white skin that had not been
exposed to much sun. Working in the fields had made her arms slim, but brawny.
Even though the filled water jug was heavy, Enri easily picked it up.
If the jug was filled to the brim, she would have to make fewer trips, which would make her job a
lot faster, right?
But it shouldn’t be too heavy for her to pick up. While thinking this way, Enri started to make her
way home. On her way back she heard a sound and after turning towards it her heart tensed up
with a feeling of dread.
The sound she heard was the noise of wood being smashed. Fol owed by───
“A scream────?”
It sounded like the cry of a strangled bird, but it was definitely not a bird who produced these
cries. Enri could not help but shudder. She didn’t want to believe it. It must have been her
imagination, that definitely was not the scream of a human. Many horrified thoughts flashed
through her mind.
She had to hurry, because the screaming appeared to have come from the direction of her
family’s home.
She threw the water jug aside, since it was impossible for her to run while carrying such a heavy
thing.
Although she almost tripped over her dress, she quickly regained her balance.
The sound came again.
Enri’s heart pounded.
That was definitely a human screaming, there was no mistake about it.
She continued to run, and run and run.
Never in her life did she run so fast, she ran until she tripped over her own legs.
The sound of a horse, people screaming and shouting.
Everything became clearer and clearer.
In front of Enri’s eyes, from far away, she could see a stranger in a full suit of armor pointing a
drawn sword at the villagers.
On the ground was a villager with a fatal stab wound.
“Mr. Morjina…”
In such a small village nobody was treated like a stranger, everyone was part of the family. So
Enri recognised the slain villager in front of her.
Although he was sometimes noisy, he was a good person and didn’t deserve to die this way.
Thinking about stopping——She bit her lips and continued forward.
The short distance for transporting the water now felt like an eternity. The wind brought the
sounds of shouting and curses to her ear. Finally the view of her home entered her eyes.
“Father! Mother! Nimu!”
While shouting for her family, Enri opened the door and saw her motionless family with faces full
of fear.. However, once Enri entered through the door their expressions instantly relaxed,
showing their relief.
“Enri! You’re alright!”
Her father, with strong hands from working in the field, clutched onto Enri.
“Ahh, Enri…”
Her mother warmly hugged her.
“Good, Enri has also come back, now let’s escape quickly!”
Right now, the situation of the Emmott family is critical. They were worried when Enri did not
return home, causing them to miss their chance to escape. They were in imminent danger.
But all too soon their fear became bitter reality.
The moment they wanted to run away——the silhouette of a person entered the doorway.
Standing in the sunlight was a person armored in a full suit of armor bearing the crest of the
Baharuth Empire. In his hand he was holding the scabbard of a sword.
The Baharuth Empire is constantly at war with its neighbour, the Kingdom of Re-Estize. But
invasions would only happen near Fortress city of Eae Rantel, they never reached this village
before.
The quiet life of this village was abruptly stopped.
From the slits in the helmet, was the feeling of cold eyes counting the numbers of Enri’s family.
Enri felt terrified, looking into his eyes.
The knight gripped onto his sword, creaking sounds could be heard from the way he gripped his
sword.
The moment he was about to enter the house───
“Huargh!”
“Ergh!”
——Her father rushed at the knight, pushing both of them out the door.
“Flee!”
“You!”
There was blood flowing down from her father’s face, an injury caused by his impact.
Both her father and the knight were fighting each other on the ground. The knight was holding
down her father’s blade, at the same time her father was stopping the knight’s sword.
Seeing her father bleeding, Enri’s mind went blank: she did not know whether to help her father
or to quickly flee the area:
“Enri! Nimu!”
Her mother’s shout brought her back to reality, Enri saw her mother shaking her head with with
a pained expression.
Enri took her sister’s hand and ran. Although stricken with guilt and hesitation, she decided to
run quickly into the forest.
The sound of horses, shouts, clashing metal and the smell of burning.
From every corner of the vil age, these situations enteredd Enri’s ears, eyes and nose. Exactly
where were they coming from? Enri desperately struggled to find out while she ran. To run until
the limits of her body, or to hide in the corner of a house. Fear was threatening to take over her
body and the strong beatings of her heart was not only caused by her running. As it was, the
feeling of a small hand grasping her own gave her the motivation to run.
───Her sister’s life.
Her mother, who was running in front of them, suddenly stopped next to a corner and turned
around. She ran back, signalling Enri to run in the other direction.
Thinking about why her mother would do such a thing, Enri quickly pursed her lips and stifled
the cry she was about to let out. She took her sister’s hand and ran, not wanting to stay in this
place a moment longer then necessary. Afraid of what she might see in that scene.
“Momonga-sama, is there a problem?”
Albedo repeated her question. Momonga didn’t know how to answer. Because of so many
incomprehensible things happened at once, his mind blanked out.
“I’m sorry.”
Momonga could only stand up and stupidly face Albedo
“Is there anything wrong?”
Albedo’s beautiful face was slowly inspecting Momonga. A fragrant smell entered his nose. That
fragrance brought Momonga’s thinking back on track, as he slowly returned to reality.
“No… There’s…. No, nothing”
Momonga wasn’t the kind of person to use honorifics when talking to dol s. But… After hearing
Albedo’s question, he unintentionally responded using honorifics. Because of her actions and
speech, there was no way to ignore her human-like behavior.
Although Momonga could clearly see how abnormal Albedo behaved, he was still unable to
understand what was happening. In a situation like this, all he could do was to try suppressing
his overflowing feelings of fear and surprise, but since Momonga was just an ordinary person,