Hero's Coffin Chapter 10

Chapter 10

#Part 3. 4%

Bump, bump, bump...

His consciousness floated in the sensation of his body shaking. His mind flickered as if falling into sleep, or wandering in a light REM sleep state. Each time he briefly opened his eyes, the scenery in his view changed. A dark forest path, a desolate field, a vast prairie, and at times even a glimpse of blue...

"Let's move now."

A soft voice settling near his ear sharply pulled his consciousness up. Harenir. Reflexively identifying the owner of that voice, he looked around in a daze and only then realized they had arrived at some village.

Last night, the group had traveled for a long time through the forest behind the temple. Just as he was about to collapse from exhaustion while following them, a wagon appeared before his eyes. It was a wagon with a white tent covering the cargo area, which they seemed to be using to travel to the first Encroachment Zone.

The initial excitement of riding a wagon for the first time was quickly crushed by the uncomfortable ride that followed. Perhaps they were moving only through sparsely populated routes to travel in secret, but it was incredibly bumpy. His body, already nothing but bones, felt like even those bones might shatter.

He had barely managed to fall asleep, but he felt stiff as if he hadn't slept at all.

"Hey! Do I have to wait for your laziness too?!"

Everyone except him had already gotten off the wagon. Kalterik's fierce shout made him sigh involuntarily. In his arms, wrapped in his robe, the black cat was curled up sleeping.

He wanted to remove it immediately, but the cat's warm body temperature seemed to have eased his fatigue a bit. It's a familiar, but it still has body heat. Feeling curious, he got off the wagon while holding the cat in his arms.

He reflexively raised his arm to block the bright sunlight pouring onto his face.

"Ugh, sunlight..."

"As always, such a gloomy fellow."

As he shrank back as if being exorcised by the sunlight, Kalterik clicked his tongue. By now, he had grown accustomed to Kalterik's provocations and pretended not to hear. He had experienced such hostile attitudes often in his previous life, so it didn't require much effort to deal with.

As his vision adjusted to the brightness, he looked around. Unfamiliar shaped houses, people walking around in unfamiliar attire. With no tall buildings and an overall quiet, rural atmosphere, it felt like they had arrived at a countryside village on the outskirts.

"Weren't we going straight to the Encroachment Zone?"

"What did you hear when I was talking? I said we'd also look into the missing persons!"

"Ah."

He vaguely remembered Noi saying something like that last night. As he slowly nodded, Noi's explanation continued, much to his relief.

"We'll start by looking around the village near the southern Encroachment Zone, where the most disappearances have occurred recently."

"...We got to the southern Encroachment Zone quickly."

"Of course, we used a warp!"

He had seen a flickering blue light while half-asleep; perhaps that was the light from passing through the warp. Since they had ridden the wagon for quite a while after that, maybe only the empire's major cities were connected by warps.

The place where he first opened his eyes, where the prison was, must have been the capital of the Holy Empire. Only the holy city would have a place suitable for the hero's funeral and for storing the coffin and holy sword. And since the Encroachment Zones existed in the four cardinal directions of the empire, and it would take at least a few months to travel around them, the capital was probably located roughly in the center of the empire.

For it to be called an 'empire', it couldn't be a small land, yet they had reached the south in just a day after taking the warp. It felt strange to have used a mode of transportation he had only seen in games. Would he be able to see it with his own eyes next time? And if they could travel like this using warps, they could probably get around the Encroachment Zones quickly...

"If the tail gets too long, it might get stepped on, so this will probably be the first and last warp..."

Noi's quiet muttering shattered his expectations. By now, he was no longer surprised at feeling disappointed right after having expectations. Apparently, using a warp not only required paying a hefty price but also going through strict identity checks, making it difficult to use continuously.

Tch, they had probably factored this in when estimating the few months' time, but he still felt unnecessarily disappointed. He had hoped this labor would end a little faster.

Feeling the warm southern air, he followed the group.

"Did the hero really die?"

"Come on, man! Surely not!"

"But the knights closest to him said so, and even the holy sword lost its light..."

The hero's death seemed to be such a shocking event that it had spread quickly even to this place far from the capital. Everywhere people gathered in the village, they were all talking about it. There were even rumors about discussions in the Order on whether to declare the hero dead or keep him in a missing status.

"What will we do if the hero disappears? Not just other countries, but perhaps even the imperial family immediately..."

Amidst the worries pouring out from all around, the hero Harenir walked calmly. It seemed like it should draw attention, but he paid no heed to his surroundings at all. Even though he was wearing a dark blue robe with the hood pulled down, his build wasn't exactly common.

Perhaps acting confidently reduced the chances of looking suspicious, but suddenly he felt strange. It was a really random thought, but Harenir's back view looked quite refreshing. The empire must have been relying on the hero quite a lot.

A being that everyone revered as sacred, praised, and depended on.

"What did the missing people look like?"

But even hiding his identity now was ultimately for the greater good. He watched blankly as Harenir approached the villagers to ask about the missing people. Kalterik, Mela, and Noi were also bustling about.

He was just standing dumbly in the back when Noi stopped Kalterik from glaring at him. The reason being 'if Isaph approaches, it might startle the villagers' was bewildering, but it didn't seem entirely wrong, so he accepted it along with Kalterik.

After about two hours of the four of them, excluding him, diligently moving around, they gathered information. Noi spoke gloomily.

"It seems more people have disappeared than were recently reported..."

"Is the reporting system a mess, or have there been additional cases since then? Tch!"

"Most of them went missing while gathering in the forest to prepare for the coming winter."

As Kalterik expressed his irritation, Mela reported calmly.

To the south of this village stretched a vast field, and after going quite far beyond that, there was a forest. Half of that forest was the Encroachment Zone, and due to poor harvests this year, people had risked going there to gather supplies and gone missing. They had been optimistic that it would be fine this time too, since nothing unusual had happened for the past 20 years or so.

However, forests are inherently dangerous places. One could fall into unexpected swamps or pits, and there were wild animals too. So the villagers didn't seem certain yet that these disappearances were due to the Encroachment Zone.

Harenir's blue eyes were calm as he gazed towards the far side of the field.

"Let's head to the Encroachment Zone now."

He moved his feet, saddened by the increasingly strong flag. No matter how vast the forest, wouldn't people avoid entering if half of it was called by the ominous name 'Encroachment Zone'? Moreover, it would be difficult to clearly distinguish the boundary inside the forest.

Is there some kind of marking... he was vaguely thinking, when he was finally struck dumb by the sight before him. He couldn't close his gaping mouth.

This was impossible not to distinguish.

Even if you did forward rolls, backward rolls, high jumps, bungee jumps, and all sorts of physical challenges, you could clearly discern where the 'Encroachment Zone' began. It was impossible to confuse this. Even he, who had only heard the term Encroachment Zone yesterday, recognized it immediately upon seeing it.

"This is... the Encroachment Zone..."

The Encroachment Zone was 'black and white'.

It was a truly bizarre landscape. Walking through a lush green forest, from a certain point on, a colorless forest spread out before his eyes as if all color had faded. While shades of gray and black could be distinguished, no vibrant colors could be found at all.

Just looking at it made him feel nauseous. It seemed like a different world. Moreover, a dark fog was thickly spread, and he reflexively realized that this must have been the reason why the Order had been unable to resolve the Encroachment Zone issue and had left it unattended all this time.

But, damn it, he would have to go in there, wouldn't he?

As expected, Harenir turned to him and spoke. His gently creasing eyes wore a smile so beautiful it was irritating.

"You've rested for a long time, haven't you? Now it's your turn to move."