Episode 1
1. Ergreifung
And the devil said, There is one there that longeth for thee, even the four horsemen.
There was a man riding a golden horse, and his name was called Conquest.
There was a man riding a white horse, and his name was Famine.
There was a rider on a green horse, and his name was War.
There was a rider on a black horse, and his name was Death.
Conquest is pretending to serve
Famine pretends to be full
War pretends to be peace
Even in the sunlight, death pretends to breathe and hovers around birds.
They will despair because of you.
Come on, kid!
Whisper in the blowing wind, in the rising haze of the earth, in the stagnant flowing water.
What do you have in your hand that you rescued?
* * *
The sound of the wind cutting through the darkness was as noisy as the running of an animal hit by an arrow.
It wasn’t the man’s fault that the bonfire that had been driving away the bugs crawling on the cave walls went out. Knowing that, Legria hugged her body a little more, while gently biting her lower dried lip.
I was wondering if that would make it less sticky to my skin.
“… … .”
Darkness without a single light makes people weak. This was something I didn’t know before.
There was no need to know. Because I lived in a place where there was light everywhere, no matter how dark it was.
Do I miss those days? Well. I’m not sure about that. One thing is certain: I hate this land so much.
When the sobs that had been swallowed up grew uncontrollably, Legria, instead of crying, looked at the back of the man sitting in front of her as if he was guarding her.
A subtle heat was rising from him. The fire that illuminated her surroundings was gone, so she had to trace his outline with her eyes, but she knew. The scars carved on the man’s naked back.
Also, she could tell from the heat that the huge, scarred man would not run away alone, leaving her helpless here.
She could distinguish between heat and cold, and that was the only ability Legria possessed.
If Legria had not been able to distinguish such things, he might have gone crazy a long time ago.
Distinguishing between those who can be trusted and those who cannot be on your side in an unfamiliar world is no different from distinguishing between sugar and salt without tasting them.
Actually, there were times when I thought how good it would be if this whole situation were just like that. Well, it was just a useless expectation, so I let it go right away.
The man said nothing. Sensing the presence of something outside he was not being able to sleep easily, he just quietly opened his eyes.
The man who was looking at the extinguished campfire and the half-burnt firewood suddenly strengthened his body and stiffly inflated his huge bulk.
Is there something outside?
What does it matter whether it is a human, a devil, or an animal? It seemed to me that it was an unwelcome opponent.
As if to find out what it was, the man disappeared in an instant. As Legria was left alone, the sound of her breathing leaked out, and she covered her mouth with both hands, fearing that something outside would hear her.
I feel like I want to crawl to the deepest part of the cave and hide.
But the man responded that it was a bad decision. One easy way to catch a fugitive is to smoke towards the cave so they can’t breathe.
If that happens, you will have no choice but to jump out, but if you are caught unconscious, then that is the end. So, it is better to stay near the cave entrance and quickly check for the traces of the pursuers.
Legria had no knowledge of this type of escape, so he had no choice but to accept.
In any case, the man was strong, a warrior, and the enemy of the being she was trying to escape.
They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Even if you can’t become a friend, they can become someone you can rely on for a while.
Above all, this man was fundamentally different from her. She is a stranger here, no, in this world itself, but the man is just a stranger for this empire…
“!”
A man who had gone to check outside suddenly stood in front of her.
Legria, was surprised as she saw him. She opened her eyes wide, wiped away the goosebumps that appeared on her skin and stood up awkwardly.
I know what to do when a man looks down at me like that.
The man who protects her. A man who helps you escape from your pursuers.
The male probably only wanted one thing, but fortunately he was not a scoundrel. She wasn’t so careless to tease his lower body.
Did he say that he only shares himself to one woman?
It was their tribe’s honor and pride to want only one companion from birth to death, so even if Legria was lying shamelessly with her pale legs hanging out now, he would not try to take her by force.
Therefore, what the man wants now is not the shameful act of spreading her legs in exchange for help. Although his gaze seemed burning… .
“I have to go.”
“Huh.”
A short conversation. Legria didn’t cry, throw tantrums, or complain that she didn’t get much sleep.
He decides and she follows. That was the only rule between them.
While the man was quickly cleaning up the traces of the bonfire, Legria stood up, massaging her blistered and swollen feet and tightening her shoelaces.
Sick. The mind-boggling pain made her fingertips tremble, but she was even more scared of being captured and dragged back there.
To be exact… It was scary to be thrown alive in front of him.
‘He is not a person.’
It was a time when Legria did not yet know about the differences in energy felt from people. I thought ‘he’ was a good person. After that, I tried to believe that he wasn’t actually a very bad guy.
That shouldn’t have happened. I never thought something non-human could wear a human skin.
“Next is northwestward.”
At the man’s whisper, Legria walked with a limp but gritted her teeth. The man who was glancing at her let out something that he couldn’t tell whether it was a sigh or a grunt, and then bent over her.
“let me pick you up.”
“I can walk with my feet… .”
“You will get caught.”
“… … .”
Embarrassment and fear, anxiety and nervousness. And what was bigger than anything else was the feeling of shame towards myself and feeling sorry for the man.
Legria had no idea that she would be this incompetent. Even though she was just an insignificant person in the world she lived in, she never thought she would end up like this here.
The things she has learned throughout her life while struggling to be recognized by her family, and the knowledge she has acquired through her efforts to keep up with her younger brother, is of no use here.
What more can I say when this fragile body is not even hers?
Dark red hair was scattered over the man’s shoulders, as if it was casting a shadow.
Legria, who hastily tidied up her hair in fear of itching him, regretted not cutting it off sooner.
It’s all because of him. The innkeepers never cut her hair because he said he liked her long hair. That didn’t mean there weren’t any sharp blades within the reach of her hands. She didn’t even put the knife that was supposed to be with her when she was eating.
At first, I never believed that it was all because she was a precious being, but when I looked back, I was able to see the truth.
Perhaps someone who had been summoned before her had run amok with a sword.
“…Thank you.”
As Legria was gently carried on his back, the man lifted his chin. The next thing I felt was the wind.
The wait until now was in vain as the man ran through the forest at a speed faster than that of a human.
As the twigs of the tree scratched her cheek, Legria quickly lowered her head.
My nose touched the man’s neck where gentle beads of sweat were forming. This kind of contact was inevitable. If I don’t catch him properly and if she falls, she will at least be seriously injured.
Legria didn’t want to be that stupid of a woman. Really.
‘The smell of a fire… .’
He had dense muscles and a strong neck, and he had a pleasant body odor.
A wide grassland, the sun that dries out your whole body, and livestock moving between them and chewing grass. There was nothing blocked, the smell of a cool wind blowing and something like embers. And the restrained strength of someone who knows the joy of maintaining such daily life is imbued.
It is said that a male tribe of nineteen clans is called <Tuak>. It means fighting to protect in ancient language.
Those who do not trample on others because they are strong, but seek to protect others with that power.
In fact, the man might not have kept his promise to her. If he had left her as soon as he was free and run off on his own, he would have already been out of the woods.
However, the man protected the useless Legria. He didn’t break his promise.
‘If the tribe is protected by a man like this, I want to entrust myself there.’
But that can’t be possible. Because your mere existence must be a nuisance.
Plus, there are political issues… .
Even if she goes there, she is not welcomed. Instead, she only gets the man she was helped by into trouble.
‘I don’t want to be a problem.’
So, the man’s help is needed until we get out of this forest. After that, she has to fend for herself. Alone in this terrible world.
I lowered my head in despair. When I placed my cheek on his shoulder, I felt the man’s muscles twitch.
It must be annoying.
He may be wondering how no matter how long we walk, I can’t even move on my own.
‘But I also wanted to do well.’
Forest of Divinity. It’s a place whose language I don’t know and spices I’ve never tried. So many rules, restrictions, regulations,
and…
Legria mocked herself and raised her gaze upwards. Four crescent moons are visible among the whizzing scenery overhead. The identically shaped moons, which seemed to fit perfectly when overlapped, decorated the night sky like flowers.
Of course, this is something that has never been seen on Earth.
Even if she returns to her original world, there is no family there to wait for her.
Even if she escaped from here, there was no place for her in this world.
But Legria had to leave.
Because it wasn’t as good as here. Even if we end up not being able to return to where we originally lived and have to live on this earth, it’s still not like this.
That was the reason Legria took this dangerous flight. She even freed the man who was captured and imprisoned, and was treated subhumanly.
“Dangerous!”
For a moment, a shiver ran down my spine. The evil energy is carried strong by the wind. At the same time she shouted, the man bowed down to her.
Parr!
An arrow got stuck in the tree one step in front of me and it hit hard. It is an expensive type with tips trimmed with golden feathers.
An item that only the crown prince could use and that he had once boasted about being able to instantly suffocate even the strongest devil.
If he had not recognized the danger, if this man had not been the strongest warrior of the Tuak tribe and had the same level of inaction as the crown prince… She must have just fallen and been caught in an instant.
I didn’t really want to imagine what happened after that.
Legria wiped the blood that was flowing down her cheek with the back of her hand and hugged the man’s neck with all her might, clinging to it and squeezing her eyes shut.
‘Oh God. If there is a God, please help me just once today.’
Today marks six months since I was forcibly summoned to this absurd world.
If the plans of those who brought her here had gone as planned, Legria would have been crying like crazy on the crown prince’s bed today.
She must have become a pure sacrifice and eventually lost her purity. And she must have gone crazy day after day, waiting for the death to come.
But instead, Legria was running away on another man’s back.
And this is for sure.
It was something that provoked the crown prince.
“If you ever try to run away, hide well. Do not show even a single strand of your hair. If I catch you, I’ll crush your ankles and sow seeds in your stomach until it swells and explodes.”
The slow yet satisfying voice of a young hunter wanders through my ears.
It’s been 13 days since I was chased by the crown prince’s pursuer.
Legria was gradually losing patience.
