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A star seeped through the clouds, and one fell to the ground.

The fallen star darted through the cerulean sky. When it finally touched the earth, something green engulfed everything nearby.

The shriveled trees and the birds that continued to chirp despite the thunderous noise.

The deer and the small forest animals quenching their thirst in the brook.

And even the pure white snow.

The star that fell to the ground devoured it all.

With a viscous, ominous green liquid.

“…Damn it!”

The Imperial Army magician, unrolling a blue curtain, shouted urgently.

“The demons have invaded! Put on your gas masks right now!”

—

Episode 11 – No Issues on the Northern Front

Humans are animals of adaptation.

Now that I’ve been dispatched to the north for quite some time, I’ve perfectly adapted to the northern environment.

“…Are you okay?”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’m totally alright. I guess my pronunciation is hard to hear because of my scarf.”

Thanks to my three years of experience working for the Empire, the time taken to adapt was surprisingly short.

Although the numbing cold and snow piled up to my knees were hard to bear, wearing thick winter clothing in layers made even the biting winds from the frozen ground tolerable.

“Senior Lyudmila, could you help me take off my gloves? I’m wearing two pairs, but they’re so frozen I can’t get them off.”

“Ah… Sure, just a moment.”

With a thick fur-lined coat and scarf, I was wearing two pairs of gloves and even two pairs of socks.

Dressed in several layers of thick winter clothes, I resembled nothing less than a golem.

Passing by a mirror on the street, I couldn’t tell if I was a person or a yeti.

“Ah, thank you. I feel a bit better now. Was there any trouble on the frontline last night?”

“I heard there were a few minor skirmishes, but I think it was toward the foothills. The areas where the Hero and the Saint are located were fine.”

“Oh boy, it seems there was another air raid this morning. Just a few days ago, the magic tower’s stronghold was attacked… Well, I need to head to the conference room. Should I relay the report sent from the Knights Order like last time?”

“Yes, that would be great, Colonel.”

The work was somewhat manageable. My role involved informing the Military Government Headquarters about the activities of the cult and the magic tower, specifically Lucia and Francesca, and coordinating schedules.

If Lucia mentioned that the patients are stable here and need to move to the next area but might have difficulties passing inspection, or if Francesca warned of safety concerns with golems and workers mixed in due to orders from the supervisory team, I would rush straight to the Military Government Headquarters conference room and urge them to get their act together when the conditions on site were chaotic.

Of course, I wasn’t really throwing around threats to the Imperial Army generals.

Generals in a dictatorial regime typically have a sense of what’s happening to survive the looming threat of purges, so merely saying, “I spoke with the Saint and the Administrator, and it seems things aren’t going well,” could perform miracles with just one phone call and resolve the issues.

“Hey! How do you command when the magic tower is filing complaints? Should I really be getting scolded by foreigners in front of the commander? Huh?!”

“Start the vehicle. I need to go myself.”

“Senior Lyudmila, what is that person saying on the phone?”

“…Um, well….”

I felt a slight rush of power over the Imperial Army, but in any case, the complaints were resolved smoothly.

There was no one in the Empire who had the guts to ignore a call from a long-time senior member still in the Military Government Headquarters. If such a person existed, someone would have burst their guts long ago.

Thus, I was gradually settling into life in the north. Surrounded by twisted individuals, I couldn’t help but feel my own character was becoming twisted as well.

However, even I, who had adapted to the northern environment, found it challenging to adjust to daily necessities.

While clothing was somewhat manageable… food and housing were the real issues.

Instead of fluffy white bread, the hotel served hard rye bread with somewhat inadequate meals, and even when I turned on the water to wash my face, it wouldn’t flow for a while.

Moreover, there were many times I woke up in the middle of the night because the heating was cut off, and once or twice, the magic supply was disrupted, causing the documents I was working on to fly away.

Considering the harsh environment of the north, such situations weren’t entirely incomprehensible, but releasing the fatigue and stress that piled on each day was not easy.

But what kind of animal are humans? Aren’t they animals of adaptation?

I kept pondering. And finally found a solution.

“…….”

“…….”

“Excuse me, can I ask one thing?”

“Go ahead, Saint Lucia.”

“I thought you were providing food for the refugees. Why are you standing here?”

“I’m just here to eat.”

“…….”

*

A warm meal and a room filled with warmth. Just sitting there felt like a lullaby for a child, gently closing my eyes.

Having eaten delicious food that couldn’t even be compared to the meals provided by the hotel and the Military Government Headquarters, I sat on a makeshift bed, smiling as if I owned the world.

“Feeling all puffed up.”

“…….”

Lucia’s cold gaze shot toward me.

I had suddenly appeared to solve my lunch in a refugee soup kitchen, and as she looked at me occupying the room she was in, she was left speechless.

“This place is pretty good.”

“…I don’t understand why you ate that.”

“Isn’t it regular to have free meals served at the church during lunchtime?”

“That’s food provided for those in need. It’s not free food from a tasting corner.”

“True, but honestly, nothing tastes as good as the meals served at religious institutions. I use it quite a bit myself.”

“…What the—”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Those sorts of thoughts seemed to pass through Lucia’s mind, but she didn’t say anything and shot me a curious glance. It seemed she thought about the importance of not speaking recklessly to others.

Receiving Lucia’s chilling stare, I shrugged my shoulders.

When I was dispatched abroad, it wasn’t a rare thing for me to save money by eating free meals from religious institutions. When I went to India, I had lunch near the office at a Sikh temple, and during my time in the Middle East, I stuffed myself with food alongside Muslims during Ramadan to the point of bursting. I wanted to save meal expenses for activities.

Looking back now, I wonder what possessed me to do that. I contemplated my past like someone entranced.

“Ah, I’m so full….”

“…….”

Lucia, seemingly giving up on thinking, shook her head slowly and approached me.

“You came to receive treatment again today, didn’t you?”

“Well, it’s not the only reason I’m here, but I do have some work to do here… but for now, yes.”

“Let’s get it done quickly. Please stay at ease in a comfortable position.”

Sitting on the makeshift bed, Lucia took my right hand and closed her eyes. To avoid interrupting her focus during the treatment, I halted my actions and simply watched what she was doing.

With every movement of her lips, clusters of light, reminiscent of pear blossoms, gathered at our joined hands.

Lucia, reciting scripture with her eyes closed, was truly the epitome of a genuine religious person. Personally, I hope Veronica learns from Lucia.

After a while, Lucia’s lips gradually stopped moving. The clusters of light that had gathered as if drawn by a magnet dispersed again, and as the warmth remained in the now-empty space of our joined hands.

Opening her eyes, Lucia raised her blue gaze.

“…It’s done.”

I slowly moved my right thumb.

I tilted it left, then tilted it right. I bent it all the way down and stretched it out, even picking up and lifting objects to check it out.

Lucia, who hadn’t let go of our joined hands, let out a sigh of relief and smiled gently.

“Thank goodness. Your condition is noticeably improving.”

“Is that so? I feel like something is certainly getting better, but I still can’t feel it much….”

“Since your nerves were damaged, it can’t be helped. It’s a matter that requires a long, slow rehabilitation. How could you expect it to get better overnight?”

“That makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Of course.”

With a smile so soft it radiated kindness, Lucia proceeded to the next stage.

Having spent a while in the north, whenever I found the time, I would visit Lucia to help with the situation of the refugee shelter and receive treatment.

In truth, because my focus was entirely on Camila carrying out combat missions, if I didn’t make time like this, I would be neglecting Lucia and Francesca.

After finishing the healing with divine power, Lucia dipped a clean cloth in holy water and wiped my hands.

This wasn’t exactly disinfection, but rather a treatment to absorb the holy water to eliminate scars and alleviate injuries.

After watching it a few times, it didn’t seem particularly complicated, so I had suggested that I could handle it if she just provided me with holy water, but,

“How can you expect to enhance the effects of holy water when you can’t even use magic or handle divine power?”

After being hit with that fact, I had nothing more to say.

“Stop arguing with facts and fight fairly with incitement and fabrications.”

“That sounds strange. Did you hit your head while hanging around with Camila?”

“…….”

Lucia’s expression, casually tossing out that my head seemed scrambled, was as clear as day.

After squeezing the excess moisture from the cloth, Lucia used her hands to rub holy water into the creases of my thumb. The thumb that had been severed but reattached with Veronica’s help would twitch every time Lucia’s touch brushed against it.

Those memories of the beastwoman biting my finger suddenly resurfaced. Even knowing she was dead, that sensation lingered in some part of my mind, bringing back those memories with every brush along the scar on my finger.

Every time that happened, Lucia would gently wrap my thumb in her hand with the holy water and wait for me to calm down.

For a brief moment, her warmth enveloping my thumb was soothing. After waiting in silence, Lucia smiled brightly and asked me,

“Are you calmed down now?”

“Thanks to you, Saint.”

“That’s a relief.”

With a swift motion, Lucia completed the treatment. Once the holy water was fully absorbed, she invoked divine energy once more, gave me several precautions, then tidied everything up before finally taking a breath.

“It’s exhausting.”

Sinking into a chair, Lucia let out a soft sigh. As she muttered about feeling hot, I opened the window for some ventilation.

When I opened the small window, the icy winds of December rushed in. The frozen ground. The wind from the cursed magical area instantly dried the sweat clinging to my skin.

“Isn’t it a bit chilly? The cold breeze isn’t good for patients.”

“Should I close it?”

“No, just leave it open.”

Waving her hands, Lucia gazed out the window.

Snow piled up softly. The city shrouded in white from the night before and distant snow-capped mountains spread before us. I could see smoke rising toward the sky from chimneys, and long lines of people waiting, shivering in the cold for rations to survive another day.

Looking out at a city not far from the northern frontline, Lucia’s eyes brimmed with tears.

“It doesn’t seem like the situation is getting any better.”

“Still, it’s much better now. When I first arrived here, the situation was even worse.”

Lucia’s face, gazing at the refugees, held a mix of calmness but also determination. Though I wasn’t sure yet, she seemed to be carrying something heavy.

Her hand, reaching for the pocket, suddenly stopped. Feeling the emptiness in her pocket, Lucia grumbled as if she had been tricked.

Noticing what she must have been searching for, I took out a cigarette and handed it to her.

“Here, smoke up.”

“Ah… thank you, but I heard you quit recently?”

“Just smoke it.”

Nodding in gratitude, Lucia took out a single cigarette. I pulled the last remaining stick from the now lighter pack and stuck it in my mouth.

-Cheek.

The familiar taste of oil and the scent of smoke tickled my nose. There wasn’t a sense of the heavy and bitter that might be drawn out on screens.

As Lucia lit the end of her cigarette, she suddenly turned to me and asked,

“But why are you here today? It seems like a lot of time has passed. Shouldn’t you be checking on the other two?”

“Is it more comforting for you if I leave early, Saint?”

“That’s not it… Actually, I was thinking of asking for your help while you were here.”

“Since civil servants are penalized for taking on unauthorized additional duties, unfortunately, I can’t help you with that.”

“How about I write a letter to the ambassador?”

“…….”

Oh, come on. To think they’d come all the way to the Empire and try to put me to work.

At that moment, just below…

On the road, I spotted priests pushing a cart loaded with luggage. They were the staff from the Inquisition, who had worked together with us in the medical service at the Magic Tower….

“Hey! Push it!”

“Come on, let’s move forward! Please!”

“I’m not sure if this is right…”

“If you’re upset, just apostatize.”

“…What will happen if I get caught?”

“We can just repent later after apostatizing…”

My expression naturally twisted at the sounds coming from below. The strangest thing was the sight of Charnoy, who was plopped down on the cart being pulled by the Inquisition staff.

“The world has elevated! Right now, Charnoy has reached a level higher than any nymph…!”

“….”

What was I thinking bringing her along? I pondered if I should request a return at this point.

But Lucia still wore a saintly smile, like something out of an icon.

“Sometimes she makes jokes like that.”

“….”

It didn’t seem like a joke. At this rate, she might really apostatize.

I sighed, shooting a weary glance at Lucia. She certainly wasn’t normal either.

“Well… anyway, I came to check on you today. I was worried if you were doing okay and if you needed anything. If anything happens to the Saint, it would be troublesome for more than one person.”

“There’s no need to worry about me. I’m not that significant. Rather, I’m more concerned about the citizens.”

At that moment, Lucia paused. She tilted her head slightly, breaking her flow of speech.

“By the way, I believe I mentioned a few months ago that you could call me Lucia. Why are you still calling me Saint?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Honestly, I prefer it when you call me that….”

“Me?”

“….”

I pointed toward the window. A heavily armed knight was staring at us with eyes sharp enough to hunt.

Though he didn’t say anything, his gaze clearly conveyed, ‘If you try to make a move on the Saint, I’ll take you down.’

However, when Lucia peered out, the knights immediately resumed their solemn expressions, pretending nothing happened.

Once more tilting her head, Lucia looked at me with confusion.

“I’m not sure why they’re worried. They really seem like good people.”

“….”

“Anyway, it works out. I was just about to explain the situation here.”

“You mean about the shelter?”

“I meant to explain the city. It’s hard to explain the shelter separately from the city.”

This meant that the entire city served as a shelter, and there wasn’t a facility worthy of being called a shelter.

In fact, even without Lucia telling me, I had a rough idea. There were plenty of homeless people sprawled across the snowy streets and the stairways leading underground.

Until five years ago, this place had been a beautiful small city, but now it was filled with armed soldiers, maimed casualties, and homeless individuals of unknown origin.

The wind from the north swept into the city. The breeze swirling around the collapsed ruins felt like the mournful wail reverberating through the wreckage.

Lucia looked upon the ruined city and opened her mouth, her slightly weakened voice escaping from her cracked lips.

“Even though those buildings seem completely abandoned, if you look inside, you’ll find many people still living there. They’re occupying ownerless buildings and struggling to survive day by day.”

“Refugees? Or the disabled and elderly?”

“They’re just refugees.”

This meant that whether disabled, elderly, young, or old, everyone was simply categorized as refugees.

While Lucia said every life is precious, to my ears, it sounded like all the Empire’s people in the north had been equally doomed.

I gazed at the long line of rations.

People who had quarrels over cutting the line were tangled up, exchanging punches, only to get caught and pummeled by the military police. However, the refugees ignored the commotion and eagerly pulled the dwindling ration line forward.

After looking at the refugees on the street, I turned to Lucia and asked, “How many people are living here?”

“I haven’t properly counted, but I’ve heard it’s around 120,000. It could be even more than that.”

“Then how many lived here before?”

“….”

Lucia’s eyes closed for a moment. She seemed unaware of a cigarette ash falling as she struggled to bear the weight of a thought.

It appeared as if she was lost in contemplation or trying to gather her thoughts.

“I heard it was 30,000.”

“30,000?”

“Yes.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

In just five years, a small city that once housed 30,000 citizens had accumulated over 120,000 refugees. Since it was wartime, it was impossible to conduct proper population counts, so, as Lucia said, those were just estimates. It could be anywhere from 100,000, shy of 120,000, or it might even approach 200,000.

Lucia continued in a calm tone.

“The population is far too high. The city’s infrastructure is unable to support these refugees. They need to be moved somewhere.”

“Well, I don’t think that’ll be easy….”

The cities in the north are already at capacity.

There were those that had suffered little damage or those that had been rebuilt somehow by the military, but they couldn’t accept refugees anymore.

Of course, there were places to which the refugees could go, but those were in such ruin that they couldn’t even be called cities. A prime example was the city where the black market operated. The military had even given up on that place, and despite the influx of people, the military police did not come to enforce order.

The northern capital, with the military government headquarters and the duke’s stronghold, Novonikolaevsk, was the same. They too could not support refugees.

“The entire north is saturated at this point. Even if it were a completely devastated city, there’s nowhere else to go.”

“What about developing land outside the city? The northern land is vast.”

“Do you think the military government hasn’t thought about that? Monsters descending from the Naroda Mountains have been attacking the city at any moment. Forcing the refugees outside the city is like throwing them as food to the monsters.”

There’s a reason refugees wouldn’t leave the city even when the streets were filled with filth and disease. Far away from monsters and demons, the city was the only place where there were those to help and solid buildings blocking the wind.

At the very least, if they entered a city where armed soldiers were stationed, there would be some psychological security in knowing someone would protect them. But the barren land outside the city was nothing but desolate, literally signaling that there was nothing.

So, telling refugees to move outside the city was essentially telling them to go die.

Even if the military government issued orders, the refugees wouldn’t accept them. Even if the northern duke ordered it, the refugees would resist.

And the north was under martial law. There’s no surprise if the rebelling citizens are branded as reactionaries and met with an incident akin to “Tiananmen.”

As my thoughts reached that point, Lucia nodded firmly, her expression hardening.

“I underestimated the situation. Still, the refugees must be moved somewhere. Ideally, I would hope they could evacuate to the central, eastern, western, or southern regions.”

“But movement in the north is impossible. They’ve completely blocked it off with barbed wire.”

“Yes. So, we need to evacuate them to the warmest and safest places within the north. Even if the aid knights and healing priests work hard, there are limits to our efforts. We can’t tend to every city.”

“…Understood. I’ll discuss this with the military government as soon as I return.”

“I appreciate it.”

Lucia tightly grasped my hand, pleading earnestly.

It was impressive for a saint of one religion to go to such lengths, but I hastily withdrew my hand, lest a knight waiting down below would leap up and smash my head.

“Ah, please don’t touch me.”

“……?”

Lucia’s eyes, once filled with tears, shifted with surprise as she looked at me, questioning what I was on about.

Taking a few coughs to ease the awkwardness, I smiled sheepishly.

“Anyway, I understood what you said. I’ll convey it to the commander of the military government.”

“Please do.”

“If the refugees can’t be evacuated, suitable measures will be taken. So, please don’t worry. Nothing will happen here.”

I casually tossed a cigarette butt out the closed window.

“Surely, the demons won’t push this far, will they?”

*

After my meeting with Lucia, I climbed into the vehicle to head to where Francesca was.

Driving against the current of refugees streaming south, I headed north.

Every now and then, people would give me puzzled looks as I drove up north, but upon seeing the armored escort vehicle behind me, they quickly averted their eyes.

I didn’t particularly care to know why they feared the Imperial Army.

In any case, just as I was about to join Francesca up north, I received an urgent call from Pippin and immediately spun the wheel to rush toward the frontline.

And….

“Ugh, damn it! Who told you to set fire near the ammunition depot?! Huh?!”

“Ah, my ear! My ear! It feels like it’s going to fall off! My ear, it’s coming off!”

“I’m not going to live through this. What kind of explosion reverberates from several kilometers away?! What in the world did you do to earn this…!”

Camila, clutching her ears, was shedding tears while shouting wildly.

Her clothes were singed in spots, and her thick coat had holes, with cotton sticking out.

Looking quite homeless, Camila had suffered not from an assault by demons or monsters, but from a fire she set herself.

“I had no idea the ammunition depot was there! I swear! I only heard it was an empty warehouse! I’m innocent!”

“Do you think the high-ranking officials who have been struggling in the north for years would confuse that? Why are you even lighting a fire near a fuel depot? Huh? You have to make your excuses sound believable….”

“…….”

The high-ranking officials, equally disheveled, quietly turned to avoid my gaze but were too busy scolding Camila to notice.

After fervently chastising Camila for a while, I took out some spare clothes I had in the vehicle and wrapped them around her. Though she usually had a high body temperature and didn’t feel cold easily, looking like a vagrant was far from ideal.

“What’s going on…?”

“Hehe.”

“Oh, this idiot….”

As she perched on the seat, idly swinging her feet outside the vehicle, a staff officer from the Imperial Army dashed in a panic, ready to explain.

Today, Camila’s task was to burn the coniferous forest in the Naroda Mountains. Since it was an operation to clear the entire mountain range, it was best to move quickly, but due to the fire at the ammunition depot, the operation had been halted indefinitely for safety.

On a side note, the translation was done by Senior Lyudmila. I wondered when she had joined, but she then awkwardly crawled out of the armored vehicle.

“What did they say?”

Camila asked, swinging her feet. I answered while gazing at the dejected figures of the high-ranking officials.

“They said the operation is halted. They need to monitor the situation because they don’t know how much ammunition was in the warehouse you blew up.”

“…….”

“Is that so?”

“Of course!”

“How convenient!”

Just then, the flustered figure of Camila’s legs stopped swinging. Her eyes blinked rapidly, and her mouth fell open as she exclaimed….

“In that case, it wasn’t my fault, right!!”

Her thunderous voice startled passing Imperial soldiers. And witnessing the flames bursting from Camila’s mouth, they dropped to the ground in shock.

What was she, a dragon or something? Breathing fire with her mouth.

I quickly grabbed her chin and forehead with my hand, shutting her mouth tightly.

“You got in trouble for playing with fire at the Research Institute, and you still haven’t learned your lesson, have you? Huh?”

“Mmmrgrh….”

“Anyway, we have to go fetch a magician, so get in for now. We need to close the door, so pull your legs in.”

Plop. As the door closed, Camila peeked her head out through the small gap of the vehicle window.

“Where are we going?”

I muttered in reply as I got into the driver’s seat.

“To the Rift.”

It was time to meet Francesca.

 

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