Chapter 2: Milbrook (1)

The village I arrived at was a small mountain village named Greenford.

The initial impression was that of a typical medieval fantasy countryside, an assessment that proved largely accurate.

People farmed in terraced fields and occasionally ventured into the mountains to gather berries or wild greens.

It was the idyllic scenery of an ordinary mountain village, where people lived leisurely, raising a few types of livestock.

“Aither, are you going to chop wood again today?”

“I must earn my keep.”

“Let’s go together! I wanted to pick wild raspberries too!”

Thanks to this, I too had spent a leisurely ten years in this village.

Having embarked on this journey aimlessly, almost as if I had been chased out, any place where I could live peacefully was fine.

In that sense, Greenford was not a bad village at all.

Though monsters rarely attacked, just as they had when I first arrived, aside from that, there was no need to worry about making a living.

Naturally, I was not some idler who had merely settled down to live off others.

My main daily routine involved dealing with monsters or bandits that approached the village and bringing wood down from the mountains.

These were not arduous tasks, but in a world where monsters and bandits frequently appeared, I, being the most proficient in combat, had taken on these duties.

“It’s peaceful.”

“That’s all thanks to you.”

“What will you do if I leave?”

“Then… I suppose I’ll have to give it some thought.”

Chatting with the village elder, who chuckled heartily, a sudden thought occurred to me.

‘If the villagers could grow strong enough to fight monsters, wouldn’t the village become much safer than it is now?’

It was a fleeting thought, but once the decision was made, my actions were swift.

“So, you’re saying you’ll teach us how to fight?”

“I can’t keep fending off monsters alone forever. A man has to protect his own wife and children.”

“…We’ll work hard!”

I asked the elder to gather the able-bodied men of the village.

Of course, I didn’t possess any special secret techniques for fighting monsters.

However, I did have knowledge gained through experience about how to fight effectively.

‘See well, dodge well, and strike well.’

Simple as they were, I diligently imparted these fundamental skills, their very simplicity making them all the more crucial.

The problem was that the results did not match the effort put in.

“You mean focus our eyes and read the movements of joints and muscles?”

“Can a body really move that fast just by breathing well?”

“Stab at weaknesses quickly? That’s impossible for anyone who isn’t Aither!”

The world, as perceived by the villagers and myself, was starkly different.

There was an extreme disparity in our basic physical abilities.

Naturally, the limitations of our movements were also different.

From that moment, I truly realized that the world I perceived was unlike that of others.

When I concentrated, the world seemed to flow in slow motion.

When I opened my eyes wide, the internal structures and weaknesses of living beings became visible to me.

Every time I breathed naturally, power surged throughout my entire body.

For me, all of these were perfectly ordinary things I had been able to do since birth.

But when others heard my explanations, they began to view me as an extraordinary individual.

‘I need to find a method.’

I couldn’t be solely responsible for the village’s defense indefinitely.

A technique that anyone could learn through effort was needed.

From that day forward, I plunged myself into a single research endeavor.

****

I am a special person.

Honestly, I couldn’t entirely agree with this sentiment personally, but it was an objective fact.

No matter which villager I asked, the answer was always that I was exceptionally strong.

So, what exactly created the difference between me and them?

While there could be various reasons, after long deliberation, the conclusion I reached was ‘breathing’.

‘The way I breathe is different from others.’

At first, it was merely a tiny suspicion.

After all, breathing is an instinctive, unconscious act repeated by all living creatures.

Unless I had mastered a family secret like a mana cultivation method, it was hard to imagine anything special about the natural breathing I had done since birth.

Yet, that was not the case.

I truly was breathing differently from others.

I realized this when the elder, seeing me sleeping in the village hall, thought I was choking and started vigorously patting my back.

“Young man! Why are you breathing like that?!”

“Huh?! What sudden nonsense are you spouting?!”

After that, I went around observing how people breathed.

I meticulously watched every minute detail: which muscles they used when breathing, how much air they inhaled.

Then, I tried to imitate the ‘ordinary person’s breathing’ that I had discovered.

The result was shocking.

‘How can anyone live feeling so stifled while breathing like this?!’

The energy that always overflowed from my body completely drained away.

My chest felt constricted, as though I were struggling to breathe underwater.

It was as though my body had been pushed to its limits and was utterly exhausted.

However, this experience solidified my conviction.

Though I couldn’t grasp the exact principle, the hidden secret to my uniqueness was my breathing technique.

Having uncovered the secret, I immediately rushed to the villagers.

And I taught everyone the breathing method I had used since the day I was born.

“Cough! Cough!”

“Keugh! Ugh?!”

“I-Is this how you breathe?!”

“I-I almost died…”

The outcome was catastrophic.

No one could breathe in the same way I did.

Just when I thought I had found the solution, the solution itself became the problem.

Nevertheless, I concluded that it wasn’t a complete failure.

One person, who had somehow endured and inhaled, managed to move a tiny bit like me the moment they pushed off the ground.

Of course, it was just a single, paltry leap.

Even that was insignificant compared to my own abilities.

The man, who landed almost like a fall, immediately gasped for air and coughed repeatedly.

It was a method fraught with difficulties in many respects, but I had at least grasped the general direction.

“Kyaaah!”

“Help!”

“Aither! Over there, still…!”

However, what I had feared ultimately came to pass.

Monsters, having seized the opportunity while I was in the mountains chopping wood, swarmed into the village.

They had intelligently waited for me to be absent.

I paid a harsh price for underestimating monsters as mere beasts.

Though I rushed back and slaughtered all the monsters, the damage was still too horrific to speak of.

Countless people had died, and the village was utterly devastated.

The kind elder and villagers, even some of the children who had cheerfully offered me bread.

All of them, dead.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Aither, it’s not your fault at all.”

“I should have come back faster.”

“It’s thanks to you that any of us survived.”

An overwhelming sense of powerlessness, unlike anything I had ever felt, drained all the energy from my body.

Even amidst their own grief, everyone worried about me and offered words of comfort.

And I had failed to protect such good people.

The few who had managed to survive planned to seek refuge in a nearby city.

After a simple funeral for the deceased, I too set out on the road with the survivors.

‘Damn it.’

And through this incident, I definitively realized something.

No matter how much they praised me as special, I was still merely human.

Therefore, I had to make a choice.

No, at least one of two things had to be achieved.

To become so strong that no one could challenge me.

Or to teach others to become as strong as I was.

Either way, I had many shortcomings.

‘My destination is Millbrook, I heard it was Count Silverthorn’s territory?’

If I went there, a new task awaited me.

I needed to learn professional swordsmanship and various knowledge.

For me, having been cast out of my family, that was the only way to accumulate diverse knowledge and power.

****

I still don’t know if this world is a Happy Medieval Land or a Sad Medieval Land.

Looking at daily life, it seems like a Happy Medieval Land, far more prosperous than realistic medieval times, yet how could problems erupt everywhere like this?

“By the Count’s command. Millbrook’s gates shall not be opened under any circumstances.”

Millbrook, which I reached after walking for over half a month, could hardly be called peaceful, even as a polite understatement.

Due to a sudden surge in monsters recently, the entire city had been completely sealed off.

Furthermore, it seemed that mimicking monsters that fed on human corpses had recently appeared.

Consequently, individuals with unconfirmed identities were completely barred from entry.

Naturally, the residents of Greenford, who had fled from a mountain village, had no means of proving their identity.

Despite traveling a long distance and finally arriving at Millbrook, everyone slumped down in despair, unable to enter the city.

I could not bear to witness their despair.

“W-What?! Who are you?!”

“If I deal with the monsters, will you allow them entry?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“If you require forces to subjugate the monsters, I will assist you. Please allow them to enter.”

Leaping effortlessly, I landed atop the city wall and addressed the knight who had been issuing stern warnings.

The knight, sensing that I was no ordinary person from my simple leap over the wall, relayed Millbrook’s situation with a rigid expression.

The knight’s subsequent story was much as I had anticipated.

Monsters, displaced from their habitats by a suddenly appearing monster, were constantly pouring down towards Millbrook.

The knight explained that while killing the source monster would resolve the issue, it had taken root deep within the mountains, making subjugation impossible.

Monsters swarming in the rugged mountain terrain.

Moreover, in the deepest part, an entity so powerful that it could instill fear and cause so many monsters to flee, lay hidden.

None of the conditions were easy, but I nodded without hesitation.

“I will handle it. Give me a sword.”

After all, a knot that could not be untied could simply be severed.