After the day Weiss and his men departed, Roy’s life became more frantic than ever before.
He began waking earlier than usual to head into the forest and returning home later than he ever had. As the days stretched into a week, the toll of the exhaustion became visible on his face.
"Dear... don't you think you should rest for at least one day?" Mireille suggested one evening at the dinner table.
Roy shook his head. "I can't. I have to cull as much of the local prey as possible. If there’s nothing for it to eat, that monster is less likely to wander toward the village."
He offered a weary smile and told her he only had to endure for thirteen more days.
(If I’d known it would come to this, I should have insisted on training with him in the forest too,) Ren thought.
Regret didn't change the situation, but he couldn't help the feeling. He had personally pleaded with his father to take him along, but Roy had refused every time. No matter how much Ren begged, his father remained an immovable wall.
Several more frustrating days passed. On the tenth night after Weiss’s departure, the veil of night began to descend as usual. The crimson stains of the sunset were being swallowed by the encroaching dark; only minutes remained before the last light vanished completely.
"Mom, Father hasn't come home yet. Isn't it getting a bit too late?" Ren asked, his suspicion growing. He found Mireille in the kitchen and voiced his concern.
"You're right... I wonder if he's pushing himself harder than usual today," Mireille said, but her expression quickly clouded with unease. "Actually, I'm worried. I’ll go take a look."
"Then I’m coming with you."
"No. It’s already dark. It’s too dangerous."
Mireille spoke with a firm finality quite unlike her usual self, but Ren wasn't about to back down. He quickly offered a compromise.
"It’s dangerous for you to go alone, too. Even if you tell me to stay, I’ll just follow you in secret. Wouldn't it be safer if we just went together from the start?"
"Haa... Oh, Ren. Honestly, where do you get this streak of cunning?"
Mireille lacked the words to argue with him. She briefly considered leaving him behind by force, but she realized Ren was right—it would be far more dangerous if he tried to follow her through the dark on his own. She finally nodded, allowing him to accompany her.
(Going out at night... this is the first time since I was reborn as Ren.)
When they stepped out from the kitchen’s dirt floor, a cool mountain breeze stroked his cheeks, carrying the sharp scents of grass, flowers, and damp earth. Under different circumstances, the chorus of insects chirping in the fields might have been peaceful.
"Ren, give me your hand."
They held hands as they began their trek.
"Be careful not to trip," Mireille cautioned, swaying her torch.
The faint starlight and the distant glow from neighbor's windows did little to pierce the gloom. In this light, visibility was limited to only a few meils—a unit of measurement roughly equivalent to a meter—and one wrong step could lead to a nasty fall.
After walking for about thirty minutes, they reached a path flanked by two torches.
"This is the entrance to the forest. That river separates the village from the woods."
The path between the torches led to a wooden suspension bridge. It wasn't a masterpiece of engineering, but its frame of thick, heavy logs suggested it was built to last.
"Where is he? I don't see—oh? Is that...!"
Beside Ren, Mireille gasped. She had spotted something at the far end of the bridge. Ren followed her gaze and saw a figure slumped against a tree just past the crossing.
They both realized it was Roy and hurried forward, but as they drew closer, Ren felt a chill of intuition.
(Something’s wrong.)
Even though they had arrived, Roy didn't react. He didn't call out or stand up. The only sign of life was a slight, sluggish tilt of his head as they approached. He didn't even look up; his shoulders simply heaved with heavy, ragged breaths.
"Dear! We were so worri—"
Mireille’s voice died in her throat. Ren, catching sight of his father’s condition, let out a sharp gasp.
"Father!?"
Roy, who had been so full of life when he left that morning, was covered in blood. The earth beneath him was stained a dark, metallic crimson.
"Mire... ille... Re... n..."
"Don't speak!" Mireille cried. "Stay still, we're getting you back to the manor right now!"
"No... use..."
A trembling arm reached out. Roy’s hand, slick with cooling blood, gripped Ren’s shoulder. His strength was a fraction of what it usually was.
"Go...! The scent... of my blood... will draw the monsters...!"
Roy's words trailed off into silence as he went limp. Ren pressed a hand to his father’s chest and let out a breath of relief when he felt a heartbeat. It was weak, but it was there.
Seconds later, a low, guttural snorting echoed from the darkness between the trees.
Snort!
Huff... huff!
Guroooh!
Three Little Boars emerged from the shadows. They were the size of large dogs, their fur matted with mud and thick as armor. Their sharp tusks glinted in the torchlight. Just as Roy had feared, the scent of blood had lured them in.
Aaaaaah!
Ren didn't have time to hesitate. One of the boars lowered its head and charged.
"Mom! Get Father to the manor!"
"Ren!?"
"Just go! Hurry! I'm the only one here who can fight!"
Ren stepped forward to intercept the beast, putting himself between the monsters and his parents. Even with his memories of a past life, he had never fought a wild animal before. Seeing the beast’s raw aggression and exposed tusks, cold sweat beaded on the back of his neck.
Gugiiaaaaa!
The Little Boar leaped for Ren’s throat. Ren leveled his Wooden Magic Sword horizontally, using it like a bit to catch the beast's snapping jaws and halt its momentum.
"Ugh... damn it...!"
The force of the impact nearly knocked him over, forcing him down onto one knee. The boar's foul, saliva-drenched tusks were inches from his face. Terror threatened to paralyze him, but Ren forced himself to focus, summoning every ounce of courage to shove his arms forward.
To his surprise, the monster was thrown back with ease.
(I see. I really have grown stronger from training with Dad.)
Capitalizing on the opening, Ren sprang to his feet and brought the Wooden Magic Sword down in a sharp arc atop the boar's head.
A second Little Boar lunged immediately after, but this time, Ren was ready. He met the charge with a calm, calculated strike.
Buoooh!?
The sword slammed into the crown of the second beast's head. The creature's thick hide and skull were no match for Ren's magically enhanced strength.
Both boars collapsed into the dirt with feeble whimperings, their skulls visibly dented where the wooden blade had connected. Seeing its companions fall so easily, the third boar let out a terrified squeal and vanished into the darkness.
"Ren!? Since when were you so strong...!"
Mireille had managed to get Roy across the bridge, but the weight of his body made her progress painfully slow.
"The area is clear! Let's get Father home!"
Ren took his father’s weight from Mireille, slinging the man's arm over his shoulder and setting off toward the manor at a brisk pace. Once the house came into view through the dark fields, Mireille broke away.
"I’m going to get Granny Rigu!"
"Granny Rigu?"
"Yes! She has the Pharmacist skill! She’s the only one who can help him now!"
Ren didn't feel the loneliness of the dark path as he carried his father the rest of the way. His mind was too consumed by worry to care about the shadows.
It was nearly dawn by the time the emergency treatment for Roy was finished. The bedroom door finally opened, and a weary Granny Rigu stepped out.
"Granny Rigu! How is he!?" Ren blurted out, scrambling up from where he had been waiting on the floor.
"Be at peace, child. He isn't out of the woods yet, but I have stabilized his condition."
Ren had seen the wounds when they first brought him in. Roy's abdomen had been sliced open so deeply that his vitals were nearly exposed. According to Granny Rigu, several of his bones had been shattered as well.
However, one thing bothered Ren.
(I can't believe Father would be bested by Little Boars that even I can kill.)
That meant Roy had likely encountered that monster. Roy knew these woods better than anyone; he wouldn't have been caught off guard unless the threat was far closer to the village than anyone had anticipated.
"Can I... go see him?"
Granny Rigu nodded and headed for the exit, promising to return in the afternoon to check on him again.
Ren stepped into the bedroom. Roy looked fragile in the large bed, his body wrapped in stained bandages. His eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell in shallow, weak movements.
"We have to tell him when he wakes up," Mireille said softly from her seat by the bed. She looked as exhausted as the midwife. "Tell him that we only made it back because Ren was there."
Ren looked from his mother to his father. Roy had nearly died fulfilling his duty to protect this village. Now that he was incapacitated, who was left to take up the sword?
He didn't have to think long for the answer.
"Mom. Starting tomorrow, I’ll take over Father's duties."
Mireille bolted upright from her stool. "Absolutely not! Ren, you're a smart boy—you have to understand! Whatever attacked your father wasn't a Little Boar!"
"I know that! But—"
"No 'buts'! If your father couldn't beat it, what chance do you have? You aren't even as strong as he is yet!"
Ren flinched at the logic, but he didn't yield. "Father isn't a reckless man. If he was hurt this badly, it means that monster is much closer to the village than we thought. We don't have time to wait."
He took a breath and straightened his shoulders. "I was born into House Ashton. I have the same duty to protect this village as Father does."
Mireille fell silent, her expression pained. Ren felt a pang of guilt, but he couldn't take it back. Weiss had said it himself—the Ashtons were the shield of this land.
"I thought about suggesting we evacuate, but there’s no guarantee the roads are safe. If we stay here, we can use the village as a defense. But either way... I'm the only one left who can fight."
Until the reinforcements arrived, holding the line was their only option.
Mireille eventually had to concede. She couldn't argue against the fact that Ren was the son of a knight, and she had no words to refute his grim assessment of their situation.
However, she set strict conditions. She forbade him from pushing himself too hard and limited his patrols to a thirty-minute radius past the bridge. He had to promise to flee at the first sign of danger and to return before sunset every single day.
"Found them."
A few hours after Roy’s condition had stabilized, Ren returned to the forest side of the suspension bridge. He had come to retrieve the two Little Boar carcasses he had left behind. He needed to harvest them for materials, and he didn't want the rotting meat luring the predator that had mauled his father any closer to the village.
"Hup... there we go."
Thanks to the "Physical Ability Up (Small)" effect from his skill, he was able to hoist both carcasses onto his shoulders at once. The musk of the beasts was foul, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.
As he shifted the weight, he blinked in confusion.
"What's this...?"
Something warm was flowing out from the boar's chest. At first, Ren thought it was fresh blood, but it didn't stain. As he dropped the carcasses, shimmering particles of light—a faint, ethereal aurora—rose from the beast’s chest and drifted toward Ren’s arm.
Startled, Ren pulled back his leather bracer to look at the bracelet beneath. The long-awaited change had finally arrived.