Reverse Dungeon

The village chief recoiled in shock.

He had once been a hunter himself. Just by looking at the way someone held a bow, he could tell whether they intended to kill.

But why would the Savior be hostile toward him?

Surely not...

"Ian."

Louise returned, leading his group after finishing the mamool hunt.

"So it was you, Louise! You piece of trash!"

"...Pardon?"

Certain of his conclusion, the village chief pointed a finger.

"You poisoned Ian's ears. You spoke ill of our village people!"

Louise let out a quiet sigh and ignored him.

"The battle is over. May we dispose of the dead mamool according to the village's customs?"

The attitude left the chief stunned and furious.

How dare he ignore him? The Louise of the past would never have done such a thing.

"Have you forgotten who saved your life? Everyone wanted you dead when you were still a bloody infant. They all said we should kill the filthy traitor's child, and I was the one who stopped them and raised you! If you're human at all, how can you ignore and insult your benefactor?"

As always, the words had an effect.

The defiant Louise visibly flinched.

"That's not it."

"If not, then what?"

The village chief felt relieved.

Louise might be rebellious, but he didn't seem beyond redemption.

There was still hope.

No matter how fair a Hero might be, if a favored subordinate constantly slandered a village, it was only natural that the Hero would eventually be influenced.

That was why someone like him had to step in and correct things. Explain that the boy held a grudge and had spoken falsely.

For the sake of the village.

Why else would a Hero suddenly point a bow at him?

Unless Louise told him something.

Then Ian spoke.

"Are you ignoring me?"

The arrowhead pressed against the village chief's throat.

No...

The chief leaned his head back and desperately searched for someone to help him.

"L-Louis!"

"Ian. The village chief has never been very good at listening to other people."

Louise hurriedly tried to explain.

The village chief disliked the contents of that explanation.

You call that helping me?

Apparently Ian felt the same.

"That's perfect. I don't need subordinates who don't listen."

"Louis!"

At last, the chief knew exactly who he needed to call.

He had tried to interpret the situation kindly, but wasn't this simply tyranny?

Still, Louise couldn't abandon him. He absolutely couldn't—

"Louis, he's my grandfather! You're... you're family to us! Please save Grandpa..."

His granddaughter clung to Louise.

The village chief's heart ached.

While the villagers stood silent, only his granddaughter was thinking of him.

"I know."

Louise answered as if he would rather not.

Even that response failed to reassure the chief.

What was with that dissatisfied attitude? It sounded as though he didn't want to protect him at all.

Sure enough, Louise spoke with unsettling calm.

"I'm sure the chief didn't mean to ignore Ian's orders. It's just that this was a crisis situation and he wasn't thinking clearly."

"...Are you even trying to help me?!"

The chief whispered through trembling lips.

No matter how he looked at it, it sounded like an attempt to get him killed.

"What are you whispering about?"

"Hrk!"

Ian's arrowhead jabbed his Adam's apple.

The old chief instinctively lifted his chin.

It felt as though even taking a deep breath might get him stabbed. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"Besides, that's not the only thing this bastard ignored."

"...What?"

What other order had he disobeyed?

Nothing came to mind.

Ian supplied the answer.

"'Traitor's son,' was it?"

"Th-that's...!"

The words had slipped out naturally from habit.

"Weren't Louise's parents cleared of those false accusations? The messenger should've told you. Did you not hear it, or did you ignore it?"

"I-it was a mistake! No, I mean—I don't actually think that! I was only talking about what the villagers used to call him in the past!"

The village chief stammered frantically.

His instincts told him his life depended on this.

"When did we ever do that?!"

One of the younger men suddenly exploded.

He had gone out hunting mamool alongside Louise.

He was also one of the future leaders personally selected by the chief.

The chief's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

That shameless bastard...!

"...The villagers called our captain a traitor's son?"

"More importantly, why does that old man keep ordering the captain around? Our captain is Ian's direct subordinate."

But that wasn't the real problem.

The members of Louise's group had started murmuring among themselves.

After glancing at their lord, they quickly fell silent.

Yet their eyes remained fixed on the chief.

The village chief felt a chill run through his guts.

"Louis!"

Louise flinched.

Whenever he heard that voice call him so sharply, his body reacted automatically.

"I-Ian."

Will Ian kill the chief?

His lord was a generous man who never mistreated those beneath him.

But whether that generosity extended to someone who had repeatedly ignored his commands... Louise didn't know.

To begin with, this situation had never happened before.

Ian possessed an innate dignity that overwhelmed others. Anyone who heard his orders usually obeyed with gratitude and reverence.

The chief, however, had only met Ian once.

Far too brief a meeting for such influence to take hold.

More than that, the chief was an old man who had spent his entire life within the uniquely closed world of a wandering village.

Outsiders are enemies.

Even if they encountered other humans in the forest, they never helped them.

That was the hunters' rule.

The rescued person might express gratitude at first.

But the moment they learned who the hunters really were, their attitude would change.

The reason Louise always wore a long hooded cloak wasn't simply because it was ideal for the cold, harsh forest.

It was also to hide his appearance.

Every hunter in the village dressed the same way.

The stigma of being descendants of traitors was a burden all of them shared.

Even among that clan, Louise was clearly an outsider.

Yet regardless, this was the place where he had lived since birth.

A place that had never accepted him.

But had never abandoned him either.

Ian's dungeon didn't feel like home to him.

He had never truly had a home here either, yet he still felt closer to these villagers than to the kindhearted people of the dungeon.

That was probably why the chief's ugly behavior made his cheeks burn.

Why it embarrassed him to see the man so arrogantly trying to obstruct what Ian wanted.

Louise forced his reluctant lips to move.

"If you could grant him mercy just this once..."

"Are you close to the chief?"

Ian suddenly asked.

...What?

"N-no."

Louise was terrible at lying.

"Then who here are you close to?"

Everyone in the village was gathered here.

The damaged building had left even the people standing outside effectively part of the crowd.

But the answer came without a moment's thought.

"No one."

"Then why are you trying to stop me?"

Ian sounded irritated.

No, beyond irritated.

He sounded angry.

Louise had never once imagined that someone might become angry on his behalf.

"So where did the captain learn his archery?" Jeff from the archery unit asked. "...Actually, no. Did he?"

"Real combat."

"The captain killed a tiger when he was seven, didn't he?!"

"So?"

"How old were you when you started fighting for real—wait. Don't tell me you killed it alone?"

...What?

Louise had no idea what the man was talking about.

Were people supposed to hunt them in groups?

If that had been the case, there would've been nothing worth bragging about.

"Of course I did."

"What kind of insane village is this?"

"W-well, children going on their first hunt alone at seven is our village tradition..."

"That's right! It's not like we were trying to get Louise killed!"

The villagers hurriedly defended themselves.

That tradition does exist.

Louise didn't argue.

Though he had later learned that children his own age were secretly assigned guardians during their first hunts.

He hadn't had one.

His nominal guardian, the village chief, was always busy.

He never had time for Louise.

And more than anything—

Because Louise knew that if the traitor's son died somewhere in the forest, not a single person in the village would mourn him.

He had tried not to think too deeply about it.

About any of the things he had experienced growing up here.

Then the Holy Knight, who had been listening in silence, finally spoke.

His bright blue eyes had darkened with fury until they resembled burning ice.

Despite the fact that he had never been particularly close to Louise.

"Ian. These people do not protect the weak and do not keep faith. They are not allies worthy of trust. You came here in accordance with God's will, to love and protect your neighbors. Yet I find myself questioning whether these people are truly our neighbors."

"Yeah."

Ian released the bowstring.

"They're not neighbors anymore."