Almark – Northern Sword, Southern Wand

Raine stepped foot in the ruins because she never wanted to.

Behind her are three mighty men.

They're all cold-blooded men who don't think mercenaries are falling apart or taking lives.

It was this morning that they visited René, who had lost his parents in the war and had been able to hide in the village.

The leader said in a low voice, "Take me to the ruins."

If you say no, I'll kill you.

The words spoken out of thin air were simple and clear, but for that reason they were filled with cruelty that made them say nothing.

Rene's dead father accidentally found the ruins ten years ago, when Rene was still a young boy.

Found a piece of jewelry in the ruins, Father became obsessed with exploring the ruins.

I went to the ruins every day, mostly by hand, but sometimes I brought back beautiful rings and small gems.

If I took it to the city and sold it, it would have cost me a lot of money.

All the villagers wanted to know where the ruins were, but my father didn't even tell my mother where they were.

The relationship between my father and the villagers deteriorated, but that was until the village got caught up in the war.

I don't know if it was a knight or a mercenary, but a lot of men armed with swords and spears fought near the village and got caught up in it, and both my father and my mother died.

Since then, Raine has lived in detail with a handful of villagers who survived to this day.

Raine seems to know the location of the ruins.

It was only recently that such rumors began to spread among the surviving villagers.

Until then, everyone had lived as long as they could and completely forgot about the ruins.

This autumn, the crops are better than I thought, and I feel more comfortable going through the winter for the first time in years since that battle.

Is that what reminded the villagers of their extra desires?

So when the men came to visit me, Rene soon understood.

The villagers said they were sold.

Instead of offering delicious money-making stories to the bandit mercenaries who came to the village, they tried to keep themselves safe.

I wasn't angry either.

If I were in the opposite position, I would have done the same.

For in this land no man without power shall live unless he do so.

My father only told Rene where the ruins were.

The night of the unusual high selling jewelry.

My father came back from buying expensive liquor that didn't suit him and disappointed my mother.

Drinking it with his own hands, my father only told Rene.

The location of the ruins. Structure therein.

As a child, you thought you couldn't remember where you talked.

Some of the drinks you're not used to have relaxed your guard.

But Rene remembered.

There is also a way to the ruins. I also set up a small room.

I remember everything clearly.

That's why I only went once after my father died.

And I realized the certainty of my memory and the correctness of my father's words.

A skinny man to the right of a leader clapped his hip sword.

"I can't wait too long. Die or die suddenly."

It was a cheap threat, but what mattered was not whether he was willing to complain, but whether he could carry it out.

And these men will not hesitate to execute.

You won't even feel the blame of your conscience.

I was suspicious that I had a conscience that I could only feel in the first place.

Rene went out at the urging of the men.

The northern winter is cold enough to cut myself.

Rene was walked at the head of the men.

I felt the eyes of the villagers from the houses along the way.

Do they have a conscience?

Look at me and feel a little bit of it, if there is one.

Reine walked with her chest high, thinking so.

How are you, sister?

A skinny man laughed when he said that behind his back.

Behind the forest, buried in the middle of the snow, there was an entrance.

He said, "This is the ruins."

The leader's face becomes steep.

"It's just a cave."

"Come in and you'll see."

Reine said generously.

It's connected to the ruins inside.

Perhaps it's true, a skinny man peeks into Rene's face.

"That's not how you lied to us. I want you to come with me."

The men are going to kill themselves anyway.

That's why Rene was going to come in from the beginning.

Let the men have the lights and get in first.

After about two branches, the cave was unexpectedly turned into a stone passage.

Raine doesn't know if it was a coincidence, but anyway, the cave was connected to ancient ruins buried underground.

Oops, the men cheer up.

"This is real. It's a real ruin."

A skinny man shouted, and the voice echoed to the back of the aisle.

Rene leads the men to the small room at the end of the aisle.

My father called it the room of the ring.

My father found a small ring on the floor of this room.

The men who heard it look around like they could taste the floor with the pine light up.

"There it is."

A skinny man cheered and picked something up.

A rushing leader looks at it and slaps the man in the head.

"You idiot. It's just a round stone."

Meanwhile, Lane was walking by the wall.

"Hey."

For the first time, a man with a single eye who had never spoken at all raised his voice sharply.

What are you doing?

Regardless, Raine pushed the indentation of the wall with all her heart.

My father nearly lost his life.

My father said.

Countless spears came down from the ceiling.

As he said, there was a sharp metal sound from the ceiling.

A set ceiling with countless spears falls.

The men look up and peel.

But the ceiling stopped halfway along with the squeaky sound.

Deterioration over time. Malfunction due to severe winter cold.

I don't know why. Anyway, Raine lost the only way to get rid of the men.

Hey, one of the guys shouted.

Rene turned her back.

Anyway, a woman's feet can't run away.

But at least die in the sun.

I thought so.

After all, Rene did what she wanted.

Just out of the ruins, Raine's feet stopped moving and the angry men chased him.

I fell into the snow and thought Rene could do nothing.

If you're gonna rape me, you're gonna rape me.

If you're going to kill me, you're going to kill me.

But the men never got to Raine.

"What the fuck?"

I heard the voice of a leader.

Rene raised her face and a boy stood in front of the men.

A young boy far younger than Rene, not yet old enough.

On his back, he carried a sword that was too disproportionate to the child's body.

I need the money.

The boy called it a sleigh.

"I heard there are ruins around here. Is this the entrance?"

Raine woke up her upper body in a surprise.

I don't know what you're talking about, that kid.

Sure enough, a brutal laugh spreads among men.

"What do you think, kid?"

A skinny man says.

The sword on my waist rang.

"I need money to travel."

The boy said again.

"If this is the entrance, go inside. Get out of the way."

"Crazy kid."

A skinny man laughed.

And in the next moment, that vicious smile distorted the cruel joy.

Slashes the boy with the sword of his hips.

Rene thought the boy's neck flew.

In fact, the boy avoided the slash with only a slight shaking of his body.

"Oops...."

When the man opened his eyes in surprise, his neck was apart from his torso.

"If you do, tell me from the beginning."

That's what the boy said and took a step with his dagger.

"It saves me trouble"

A man with one eye pulls out his sword.

"Kid, do you know who we are? We're members of the Purple Flame Mercenaries."

"I don't know"

The boy interrupted the man's words.

I don't know any mercenaries like that.

Needless to say, the boy waved his sword.

The man with the ship's eyes rolled with blood in the snow without a blade.

"You're kidding. Jesus Christ. You're still a kid."

The voice of the leader man trembled.

"You're a mercenary. At that age. What mercenary regiment?"

The Black Wolf Cavalry.

The boy's answer distorts the man's face.

The Black Wolf Cavalry kid.

The expression is either stunned or frightened.

"I've heard of it. I heard that the Black Wolf Cavalry was still a kid, but they still had a strong one... but they were stabbed to death with a spear from the Land Warrior."

"That's not true."

Saying so, the boy took another step.

"There was an accident"

A man shouted and slashed him, but the boy avoided it barely moving his body.

When I thought of it, the dagger flashed at an unstoppable speed, and the man was falling down with a splash of blood.

"Hey."

Rene, who was stunned in the snow, was shouted at by the boy.

He slashed three adult men, but the boy was not disturbed by his breath.

"Do you know? Is that the entrance to the ruins? Is there anything golden in it?"

The boy who looked at Rene's face was surprisingly clear, and Rene took a breath.

The boy who heard about Rene didn't smell.

"If it works, I'll give you half."

and disappeared into the ruins.

Rene looked at the entrance to the ruins where the boy disappeared and thought it was blurry.

If the boy really takes home the treasure.

And if you really give me half of that.

Let's take it to the city.

Let's get out of this village.

That way, I'm sure I'll be able to live a little better than I am now.

With a single hope for the boy's words, René kept staring at the entrance to the ruins.