My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields - Chapter 26: The Demon Hunt (3)

“Hey, I almost didn’t recognize you, what happened to you?”

Luton said cheerfully with a chuckle.

In response, Elric let out a smirk.

“You haven’t changed a bit, then. You’ve only gotten bigger.”

“That’s what she said.” [1]

“What’s with the way he talks?”

“This guy’s a real….”

It was always fun to run into someone from the good old days, no matter how many times you’ve experienced it.

Especially when it was a close friend.

“Come on in, you’ve come a long way.”

“Yes, yes, ah, I didn’t get a chance to say hello to you, Ma’am! I’m Luton, Knight of Gideon, and I used to be the right-hand man of the captain here!”

“It’s nice to meet you.”

Tyria acknowledged him with a small bow of her head, as always.

Once inside the manor, Elric was so pleased to see Luton again that he had forgotten the original purpose of the visit, and thus began to ask him about his story.

“I heard you were knighted, but I didn’t realize it was in the neighboring territory. Why not in Wiven?”

“They don’t recruit knights here anymore, and Gideon still has a knighthood order in the name of dignity. Oh, you’re not disparaging Wiven, are you?”

“I don’t care about that, so don’t bother.”

“Good, then.”

The conversation went on for quite a while.

They talked about how they’d been doing for the past 10 years, how their other friends were doing, and what had happened at the harvest festival not too long ago.

Elric couldn’t help but smile as he recalled the events as vividly as if they were yesterday.

It wasn’t long before the conversation was interrupted.

“Milord, I apologize for butting in, but I was wondering if we could talk about work.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was too excited.”

“No, no.”

Tyria intervened.

It was unfortunate, but just in time, as the conversation could have gone on all night.

Luton chuckled and agreed with Tyria.

“Yes, well, I am a dispatched knight for the time being, so I suppose this’ll just have to wait, can I hear more about this demon hunt, Ma’am?”

“It’s nothing complicated, a beast from the mountains behind the village has descended upon the town and is running amok. From what I can gather, it’s a Caliso Wolf, but Miord is of the opinion that we should have a knight for safety’s sake.”

“Hmm, certainly a knight would be helpful, I’ve hunted them a few times in Gideon.”

Elric smiled awkwardly and listened to the two talk.

He knew it was a Blade Wolf, not a Callisso Wolf, but he could see Tyria’s eyes on him, and he wasn’t about to tell her how he knew that right now.

Perhaps he could confront Luton later, in private.

With that thought, Elric watched Luton carefully.

‘He’s well trained.’

Luton’s mana was very stable.

He had been known as a sturdy mill since he was a child, so the hard training shouldn’t have been too much of a problem.

And so, he was probably enough to fight against the Blade Wolf.

It would be enough for him to cut off the claws with his sword and pierce the beast with his mana.

“…I see. Three hunters with flintlocks. One guide. Not bad. Overly safe for hunting wolves.”

Luton chuckled softly.

“Let’s get going, Captain, we can talk about the rest of it later!”

With that, he rose to his feet.

Turning his gaze to the window, Luton glanced out and said, “Huh?”, shaking his head in confusion.

Elric followed suit, casting his gaze out the window.

“Why are you… hmm.”

Elric’s eyebrows narrowed.

“It’s snowing.”

White pellets began to fall to the ground from the sky.

Judging by the thickness that was already apparent, snow was accumulating.

Traveling in a straight line was problematic.

If the roads were icy, wagons and horses would be hard pressed to move, but more importantly, if they got wet from the falling snow, their body temperature would drop.

Luton’s mana made him fine in this kind of situation, but the others might be affected.

Elric couldn’t just leave them alone.

In the end, it came down to one thing.

“Well, let’s just move as soon as it stops snowing.”

Luton agreed.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it means we’ll be able to see its tracks more clearly. Thus, it’ll be much easier for us to see its travel routes and find its home.”

“When do you think it will stop?”

“I think it’ll be over by the afternoon…”

Elric and Tyria agreed that it wouldn’t take long.

So it wasn’t long after lunch that the three were ready to leave.

Luton asked.

“So, are you sure you want to follow me?”

“Hmm? Is there a problem?”

“What makes you think there isn’t?”

Luton’s gaze fell to Elric’s knee.

Elric shrugged.

Admittedly, Luton did have a reason to be concerned about the one person who could barely walk without a cane.

But to Elric, it was almost comical.

“This is the knee of a guy who’s been traveling around the world for a decade. He shouldn’t be crippled by an injury like this.”

“Then I guess there’s nothing I can do about it… but you’ll have to stay behind me when the beast comes out.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

In truth, Elric was tempted to leave Tyria behind in the midst of all this, but as a crippled man, it was ridiculous for him to tell another person to stay out of it.

It was also hard to say anything else when she was so determined to follow him.

Elric glanced at her.

“Well, you’ve been unusually quiet today.

The things he hadn’t noticed by his preoccupation with his and Luton’s conversation were starting to come into focus.

Is she still nervous?

Her expression seemed more rigid than usual for some reason.

It was at this moment.

“Let’s go.”

Tyria’s words set the carriage in motion.

It was another hour or so before they reached the village.

They were greeted by the hunters, their guide, and the village chief, who had already traveled here the day before.

“Milord, are you and your lady coming as well?”

The chief asked, but there was nothing he could do to stop the Lord and Lady.

All he could do was shudder at Elric’s words and bow his head.

Which was a good thing for Elric.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure the villagers will be fine.”

Elric smiled and turned to the hunters.

“Now, it looks like you’re all ready, so let’s get going.”

“Yes!”

And so the hunt began.

Behind the village was a large mountain range, and the path from which the beast had presumably descended the mountains was a common trail traveled by local herbalists.

Elric surveyed his surroundings, keeping an eye on the hunters and Luton as they climbed the mountain.

He was going to start telling them about the Blade Wolf.

‘I’m starting to see signs already.’

Of course, there was a much better way than saying it directly like, “These are the tracks of the Blade Wolf.”

Well, rather than trying to discern the type of monster by the method of examining a severed neck or by overturning the village, wouldn’t it be much easier to just point out the traces remaining nearby, thereby allowing them to realize the type of monster themselves?

Elric had no intention of taking a direct stance right now.

“I found something!”

One of the hunters called out.

Elric looked in their direction.

‘Hmm, too vague.’

His eyes narrowed.

What the hunter had found were paw prints.

Although they were larger than a typical Caliso Wolf’s, they were without the distinctive markings of a Blade Wolf.

“The tracks are quite large.”

That was all he could say.

However, their next reaction was predictable.

“Definitely enough to take out a village. It’s a big one.”

“Yeah, it looks like he’s a pretty big guy, even for an adult.”

So much for pointing out the tracks.

Elric sighed.

“Let’s get moving again.”

If only they could find more solid evidence.

The good news was that there was still time.

It was usually only in the fifth valley and afterwards that the monsters nested, and since they were still in the first valley, they shouldn’t have had to worry about an unexpected attack at this point.

More importantly, Elric’s mana net hadn’t caught any signs of the beast.

‘It’s okay.’

With that judgment, he strode steadily up the second ravine.

Luton frowned.

“…This is unfortunate.”

He was right, it was unfortunate.

“The sky was clear, so why the fuck is it snowing again?”

Suddenly, dark clouds had rolled in, and snow began to fall again.

Even as a knight, he was a little confused.

So far, it hadn’t been too difficult to walk through the snow, but if it piled up any higher, it would certainly limit his mobility.

Moreover, there was a bigger problem than that.

“Ma’am, are you all right?”

“…Yes.”

Tyria’s complexion was not good.

It was only then that Elric realized for sure that something was wrong with her.

Her face was flushed, and he’d assumed it was just the cold air, but it wasn’t.

He removed his gloves and ran his hand over her forehead, feeling the heat.

“You have a cold.”

Elric’s expression hardened.

Tyria’s gaze dropped to the floor.

“…It’s nothing.”

“No. If you were in this condition, why didn’t you tell me?”

“…”

Tyria fell silent.

The others looked troubled as well.

“What do you think, Milord? Should we go down?”

No, she was too far gone to go down.

By the time they got down to the village and tried to warm her up, she’d have already collapsed from her fever.

But they had to do something sooner rather than later.

Elric’s thoughts spun for a moment, but then suddenly stopped.

“…Luton, let’s go there.”

“Hmm?”

“The hut. There’s a hut here, in the second valley.”

Luton’s eyes widened at his words.

“…Ah, the place where you were learning swordsmanship from that bandit!”

“He was a knight.”

“Whatever!”

Luton’s face lit up.

“Anyhow, that’s where we can get out of the snow and warm up the Madam, so let’s go!”

“Ma’am, can you walk a little further?”

Tyria’s head nodded up and down.

Elric squeezed her shoulders and said.

“Just a little longer, please.”

“…Yes.”

Elric began to pick up the pace, urging her on.

Fortunately, Luton had remembered the hut, and there was no hesitation in his steps.

Pisch, Pisch~

The sound of their footsteps sounded from the snow.

In the middle of it all, Tyria glanced at Elric.

Her face was full of worry.

‘I didn’t think the fever would get this high…’

Tyria scolded herself for her complacency.

If she had known this beforehand, she wouldn’t have come… but she shook her head.

Her worrying was to blame.

These mountains, this time of year, and the presence of Elric, brought back memories.

In her feverish dizziness, a blur of memories began to overlay the familiar snowy mountain landscape.

-“You need to run!”

A brown-haired child shouted, blood trickling down the nape of his neck.

His expression was desperate.

Behind him was a black beast, its eyes shining with a fiery red glow.

-”Faster!!!”

For some reason, that cry echoed clearly in her mind now,

Thud–

Tyria lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Ma’am!!!”

Elric’s startled voice was the last thing she remembered.