My Wife Waited in the Wheat Fields - Chapter 28: The Demon Hunt (5)

There were four men running through the snowy mountains.

The last of them, Luton, with his sword drawn and wary of his surroundings, gritted his teeth.

‘Damn it! We’re surrounded!’

He was a knight, so even if he was about to die, his mastery of reading and harnessing the flow of mana gave him access to more information than the hunters with their single guns.

The monsters were closing in on them now.

Monsters in which the ferocity of their mana suggested that they were not the Caliso Wolves as first reported.

And there were five of them.

‘We can’t get there in time.’

They’d only just entered the first valley, but Luton knew.

That they had simply been playing with him.

It would be more accurate to say that they had been pressuring him to satisfy their amusements.

It made sense now.

Why the village was in such a state of disrepair when they had arrived, but no one was killed.

And why the cross-section of the severed head was so neat.

‘It was a Blade Wolf…!’

A Blade Wolf, a rare, high-level monster.

They were the second most vicious of the monsters, and the strongest of all of them.

Tap-

Luton halted his steps.

The hunters sensed his change in demeanor and stopped to look back at him.

“Sir, what is it?”

Luton smiled bitterly at the hunter’s confused question.

“Can you all go back to the village first?”

“Y-Yes? Why on earth…”

“We’ve been surrounded by the beasts.”

A shudder ran through the hunters’ bodies.

Their eyes widened in disbelief, but then they realized from Luton’s grave expression that his words were not false.

Their next reaction was fear.

For Luton to order them to flee rather than fight was a sure sign of the other side’s superiority.

Without much thought, Luton’s intention was to set himself up as bait.

“And what do you intend to do, Sir…?”

“Anyone who survives should warn the village about the danger. That way, we can receive support or whatever else is needed.”

That wasn’t the only reason.

“Besides, the captain and his wife are still in the hut, how do we know that the monsters will not head there?”

Even aside from being a client, Luton hadn’t gotten to the point where he was willing to throw away his friend to the demons just to save his own ass.

‘What an annoying friend.’

He’d done it before when they were young, always getting himself into trouble by doing dangerous things.

The only difference was that, this time, unlike the last, a miracle was unlikely to happen.

Maybe this would be the end of Luton’s eventful life.

“Well, anyways….”

The mood of the hunters, restless, but unwilling to leave, was both pleasing and troubling.

Luton chuckled as he patted his armor.

“Don’t worry. You seem to have forgotten, but I’m a knight. When I say that I’m the sacred Luton of Gideon, everyone wakes up even from their sleep and raises their cups to honor me.”

“Knight…”

“Knight.”

Luton said with a deliberately strong accent.

“Men who protect the weak, who follow the example of the war gods, who seek honor and justice. Do not shame me.”

The hunters’ moods sank.

A mourning spirit was already in the air.

The hunters bowed their heads and pressed their fists to their hearts.

“…Please stay alive, I will go call for reinforcements.”

“Please.”

“Yes!”

The hunters turned and began to sprint across the snow.

Luton stared after them, his shoulders slumping with a sigh as his human spirit burned to a small piece of charcoal.

“Damn you, Captain.”

If he was going to die, then he didn’t want to die alone.

Gritting his teeth, Luton chuckled and turned.

It was in the direction of the monster’s stirrings.

“Now, come out.”

“Grrrr….”

From between the snowflakes, five white-maned wolves emerged, flaunting their pale manes.

They were the Blade Wolfs.

The unusually long claws protruding from their back proved it.

“You look murderous.”

Or should he say, hideous.

The grayish-white, smooth manes concealed a ferocity that sent shivers down his spine.

The reason for why he had parted with the other hunters was quite obvious now.

To minimize the chances of injury.

He knew that the combination of a knight and guns was dangerous.

“They won’t get in my way now.”

Aaah!

Blue mana erupted from Luton’s body and enveloped him.

Mana Flare.

It was the first physical enhancement skill one learned after becoming a knight.

“I’ll take at least one of you with me for sure. You’re supposed to be afraid of humans, you bastards.”

His fingertips trembled slightly at the thought of death.

Partly to hide it, he let out an even louder yell.

Luton gripped his sword with both hands and faced the beasts.

His mind flashed back to the face of his best friend, Elric, who had returned home after a decade of being neither with family nor lover.

‘You better live your life greatly to fill up my share.’

He thought to himself as he took a step forward.

Twitch–

A chill ran up his spine.

So suddenly? Why?

These questions came to him, as he looked around for the culprit, but it wasn’t the beasts.

Luton was appalled.

‘Spooked? Those things?’

It was obvious that the beasts were feeling the same strange sensation that had suddenly overtaken him.

Their manes spiked out like hedgehogs, their bodies stiffened, their breathing ragged.

“Grrrr…!”

There was no longer any ferocity in their cries.

The situation was beyond comprehension.

He didn’t even know where the creepy sensation that froze his entire body came from, but the power of it had been enough to frighten even the monsters.

Luton’s thoughts went in one direction.

‘No way…’

A stronger predator had come here?

Could it be a master from deep in the mountains?

A cold sweat trickled down his cheeks.

His body began to shiver for reasons unrelated to the cold.

It was at that moment.

“Ah, I finally found you!”

A voice rang through the space.

It was a relaxed voice, completely out of place in this tense atmosphere, but at the same time, it was one that was very familiar to Luton.

Luton’s head snapped around.

His face was now filled with a look of disbelief.

“…Captain?”

“Luton, thank God I’m not too late!”

Elric laughed through gritted teeth as he stood still.

His hands were curled into fists, pounding his right knee.

“Gee, I’m afraid I’m getting old, running this much had been truly nothing in my prime. Or is it due to the injury?”

It really was Elric, talking all this bullshit.

It was really unlikely to be a ghost or a fiend in his skin.

Luton’s thoughts were starting to turn to panic.

‘Uh, why….’

Why are you here?

Or rather, how did you even get here?

These words got stuck in his throat.

In the end, all Luton could do was pout his lips.

Meanwhile, Elric’s grin grew wider, and he started approaching Luton, seemingly unconcerned about his surroundings.

“Are you hurt?”

Luton’s eyes rolled back into his head.

The monsters had been as still as statues since Elric’s arrival, unable to show any reactions.

The implications were self-evident.

Elric was the cause of all this.

For a moment, Luton felt very distant from Elric.

Or, more accurately, he was overwhelmed by his presence.

It was like looking up at the sky that he couldn’t reach.

It was like being in awe of an abyss so vast that you didn’t dare look at it.

“Uhm….”

Elric laughed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Actually, I came all the way here because you told me you were in danger. It’s just… I’m in a bit of a predicament.”

“What? A… predicament?”

“Yeah, a predicament. I’ve been in a bit of trouble these past ten years. There are a few, or well, a lot of people who want to kill me.”

His words were incomprehensible.

It wasn’t until later that Luton realized what he meant.

Elric’s voice was solemn.

“So tell me. Can you pretend later on that you didn’t see what’s about to happen?”

For some reason, his voice was strong.

Luton nodded dazedly, as if mesmerized.

Then Elric’s face brightened and relaxed.

“Ah, thank you, I’ll take care of it!”

That was as far as Luton could painfully comprehend.

What happened next was not something he could.

Squelch―

The sound warped the landscape.

The five monsters, the nearby trees, the falling snowflakes, and the wind all parted at once.

It was a single, horizontal, solid line.

It seemed to be a technique that precisely twisted both upward and downward in the exact opposite directions, a technique that cut off space itself, and in doing so, cut down what lay in its path.

He couldn’t be certain for one reason.

He hadn’t seen it happen.

All Luton comprehended was the cause – his conversation with Elric – and the effect – everything on the straight line being cut.

In his eyes, from start to finish, he could only see Elric maintaining eye-contact with him whilst smirking.

Thud thud thud thud thud–

Leaving behind chunks of meat that had been cut in half before falling to the ground, Elric spoke whilst his grin deepened.

“Well, I’ll be going back to the cabin, so you go to the village and let them know we’ve dealt with the beasts. Oh, and if you’ll excuse me, I have to stage the fact that we had been in a fierce fight, so I’ll just create a few shallow wounds on your body!”

Luton stood there dumbfounded, his mouth agape like a fool’s.