2 – Violent Valley

The rising sunlight pierced through her eyelashes and entered densely. Lying on the hard ground all day had made her back sore. She blinked her eyelids and removed Julian’s hand, which was naturally gripping her chest.

“Did you sleep well?”

Julian asked in a husky voice, placing his hand back on Vanessa’s chest. At the same time, his lower body, full of arousal, pressed tightly against her b*ttocks. He seemed to be in heat like a dog from the morning.

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“What you’re about to do.”

“What if I don’t want to stop?”

Julian kneaded Vanessa’s chest as if to show off. The more she was disgusted, the more excited he seemed.

“My five-year-old son is more mature than you.”

She meant it sincerely, but Julian just scoffed.

“Your son will act like me when he grows up a bit.”

“What a horrible thing to say!”

“Haha, just wait and see. Men turn into beasts in front of beautiful women.”

The thought of her beloved child growing up to be a shameless womanizer was both absurd and terrifying. She didn’t want to believe it.

“I won’t let him do such shameless things!”

“You have a lot of energy this morning. Stop getting angry and get ready to leave.”

Pierre, who was tightening the horse’s girth nearby, taunted. Vanessa blushed furiously and kicked off the blanket, standing up.

They rode along a sparsely populated road that was occasionally broken. Among the deer and flocks of birds startled by the sound of hooves, a large oak tree came into view. More precisely, a corpse hanging from the old tree entered their sight.

A flock of crows was fighting over the rotten flesh. They flapped their black wings and cawed noisily. The heavily damaged corpse, with bones partially exposed, seemed less than a week old. Below it lay the wreckage of a broken cart scattered messily.

“It seems we’re on the right path.”

Julian commented briefly upon seeing a victim of the bandit knights.

Vanessa neither cried nor vomited at the sight of the corpse. She gazed into the hollow eye sockets of the corpse with a noticeably darkened expression.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Traveling through the outskirts to avoid people, I passed through the war-torn Boldren area. I saw enough corpses there to be sick of them.”

“I see.”

The battle on the Dautruppel Plain was more of a swift and meticulously planned massacre than a battle.

With Arno van Kapel’s brilliant strategy, the rebel forces melted away in half a day. Julian, who narrowly survived, was captured by King Arno, and the remnants of the rebel forces holed up in the Boldren fortress.

Due to the rugged terrain, a proper siege couldn’t be conducted, and they had no choice but to wait for the enemies inside to starve.

The tedious and fruitless battle dragged on from the harsh winter into the scorching summer. During that time, scarlet fever and cholera spread through the troops, with more deaths from disease than from injuries.

The improperly disposed bodies from that time were still scattered everywhere, and the people who lived in Boldren moved to nearby areas to escape the plague.

Having passed through a hellish place like Boldren, such a corpse must seem insignificant.

“Look over there!”

Donnie shouted, pointing to a low hill downstream of Violent Valley. Black smoke was faintly rising above the dense trees.

“The map shows a small village there. It’s not far.”

Donnie estimated the distance.

“Let’s go quickly!”

Julian shouted, spurring his horse.

They rode at full speed for half an hour and reached the village entrance. Sharp screams and cries could be faintly heard from the village.

“I’ll be back before sunset, so hide here. If anything happens, don’t look back and run. Got it?”

Julian instructed earnestly. Vanessa nodded with a frightened face. Julian rode towards the village with his companions, and Vanessa hid herself in the shade with her horse.

Shortly after, shouts and the clashing of weapons echoed from the village. She worried whether Julian would return safely, considering there must be a significant number of them to devastate a whole village.

Every minute felt too long. Much time had passed.

Someone approached. The person reeked of a strong scent of blood. The horse, excited by the smell of blood, neighed softly.

“Who’s there?”

A stranger’s voice made her hold her breath and crouch. He didn’t seem to be a villager. She was terrified. She held the reins tightly, ready to flee.

He walked towards Vanessa. She groped the ground and threw a stone she found. As the man’s attention was diverted, she quickly mounted her horse. As the horse, which had been kneeling, rose, her hair was grabbed. A pain as if her scalp was being torn off surged through her.

“Kyaa!”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Caught by the man, she fell from the horse. The impact caused the man to stagger as well. The hand that had grabbed her hair loosened. In that moment, she crawled away from him on her knees.

An arrow shaft pierced through his chain mail, dangling broken from his chest. He seemed intent on stealing the horse and fleeing.

Since he was injured, maybe if she resisted, she could keep the horse. But seeing the sharp blade he held, her courage faltered. It was a precious horse, but she couldn’t risk her life. If she was lucky, she might find it again since they wouldn’t kill it recklessly.

“Cough, cough… Damn, you’re lucky.”

The man holding the reins spat out dark red blood. His injury seemed too severe for him to retaliate against Vanessa. He climbed onto the struggling horse with all his might.

“Yah!”

The man kicked the horse’s side with difficulty and rode forward. Contrary to his wishes, he couldn’t get far.

Vanessa’s loyal horse furiously resisted parting from its owner, bucking wildly in place. The man clung to the horse’s neck for a while, then soon fell to the ground.

“Pumpkin, come here!”

At her owner’s call, the mare bounded towards Vanessa. The man, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, was dragged along with the horse to Vanessa, hanging upside down. He didn’t move.

She scratched the mare’s muzzle, which acted coyly as if asking for praise, and then freed the man’s foot from the stirrup.

“For a noble steed, it’s quite a rustic name, isn’t it?”

Donnie, who had approached without a sound, said as he unstrung his bow. Vanessa was startled and dumbfounded by Donnie’s sudden appearance.

“Is that something to say in this situation?”

“No, it’s just too funny. Pumpkin, really.”

Donnie chuckled and flipped the man’s body. Seeing that he didn’t move even after pulling out the arrowhead from his chest, it seemed he had died with his eyes open. Then Donnie casually looted the corpse for loose change. It was hard to tell who the real bandit knight was.

“You saw that I was in trouble, so why didn’t you help?”

“I figured he wouldn’t live long after being hit with a poisoned arrow. No need to waste arrows unnecessarily.”

“What?”

“Things should be about wrapped up, so let’s head into the village.”

Donnie gestured to Vanessa. He wasn’t injured, and judging by his frivolous comments, the situation didn’t seem too dire. Vanessa followed him, suppressing her anger.

They passed by burning huts and villagers crying over the corpses. The remaining people couldn’t rejoice in their survival and trembled in chilling fear.

Clang, clang!

Sparks flew as swords clashed. Julian was fighting a knight of similar build.

Pierre wiped the blood off his sword with a corpse’s clothes, and Max sat crouched, resting his chin on the handle of his battle axe, watching the fight. Donnie frowned at the sight.

“Aren’t you going to help?”

“He said not to touch him. Something about getting scratches on the armor he’ll wear in the tournament.”

Max grumbled, pointing to the slightly dented breastplate of the knight. Max had already attacked once but hadn’t been able to take down the knight.

Julian was also struggling against the knight. The breastplate, rounded by hammering thin iron plates hundreds of times, deflected most attacks. It would be faster to kill him with a battle axe, but to preserve the armor, Julian chose to stab at the joints with his sword. However, the chain mail protected the body without gaps, making it difficult.

The knight’s sword slipped and lightly cut Julian’s thigh. Crimson blood spread on his pants. Vanessa’s mind went blank.

What does armor matter when he might die!

Knowing he was stubbornly keeping his promise to her made her even more anxious. Julian said he didn’t need help, but she couldn’t help it. Vanessa picked up a broken plank and threw it at the knight’s head. She didn’t forget to warn Julian.

“Watch out!”

Both Julian and the knight looked at Vanessa. As the knight blocked the flying plank, Julian attacked him from behind.

He pinned the man to the ground and grabbed the hand holding the sword. The knight twisted his body, trying to shake off Julian, but Julian didn’t budge.

Like a bear swinging its front paw, Julian punched the knight’s helmet. Even with a helmet on, getting hit multiple times left the knight unable to regain his senses.