"Altair!"
As I called his name and ran toward him, Altair, who had been chatting with Winter with a cheerful expression, turned his head toward me.
"Salvia, what’s up?"
Since I had saved his life, the once strict "Kontaier" Altair had become unusually lenient with me.
"Is the dark sorcerer you’re here to catch that person? The one from the Empire’s northern region, the Three Great Dark Sorcerers..."
"Ah, yeah. One of them is suspected to be in this village."
"Ah..."
"You know, the reason you’re here for flood relief is also because of that dark sorcerer, right?"
"Huh?"
I was surprised, my eyes widening at this new information, and Altair looked at me as if he couldn’t believe I hadn’t heard.
"What, didn’t they explain it to you? The flood damage in some villages in the northern Empire is all due to dark magic that the sorcerer used."
"...What?"
"They say the rainstorm that flooded certain villages was the result of dark magic. Our unit is here specifically to track down that dark sorcerer."
...It sounded strange now that I heard it.
The villages near us weren’t that far, but our unit was perfectly fine while several villages nearby were hit with severe flooding.
"Honestly, I think we’re going to fail and it’ll just fizzle out, but we need to make an effort for the sake of appearances, you know?"
"Do you have solid evidence that the dark sorcerer is in this village?"
"Ugh, don’t even get me started... That sorcerer is a famous fraudster. He probably stirred up the neighboring village, and now the only place he can come to is here."
"Ah, I see. But isn’t that the job of the special forces for dark sorcerer searches?"
"If we miss him, he’ll just head over there. Their system is so peculiar."
After hearing Altair’s explanation, I clenched my fist.
So, some damn dark sorcerer caused all this trouble, and now Altair’s unit was chasing him while we were stuck cleaning up the mess.
External duty had its perks, but still...
‘Why is it always our unit that has to fix the mess these damn dark sorcerers cause?’
Thinking about the extra work we had to take on because of them made my blood boil.
‘April, please... do your best...’
I couldn’t help but silently cheer for April, who would be heading to the dark sorcerer’s search special forces. It was really humiliating to realize how right she was every time something happened.
***
The location for this task was a bustling street.
The place we worked at last time was a typical rural farmhouse, but today we were in a market filled with people and various shops.
Compared to the market often depicted in capital cities in novels, it was rather modest, but it was still the most dazzling place I had seen since arriving in this world.
‘So this is... society?’
After so long, feeling the air of society made my face naturally flush with excitement.
"What's going on?"
"Just repairs."
"Are those hetero sapiens?"
The fact that we were in the busy district meant there were many Empire citizens around.
As soon as the citizens saw us, they whispered “hetero sapiens” and moved away, making our path eerily clear. Adults shielded their children’s eyes so they wouldn’t make eye contact with us.
‘These people really know how to piss me off.’
My mood soured further, and Milphy, who saw my expression, let out a little gasp, but we still had to get to work.
Today’s task was to fill in a large puddle of water. I had no idea why we were doing it, but following Ishina’s advice, I decided to maintain the demeanor of a model soldier. It was easier not to overthink things.
Winter had divided the team into groups, and the ones working with me on this task were the same as last time—Karon, Patty, Matty, and Jason.
"Karon, hey."
"Yes?"
Karon, who was digging away next to me, looked up.
"You said you remembered a little, right? Can you tell me what kind of things you remember?"
"Ah, my memories, you say..."
Karon blinked a few times and, in his usual slow manner, began speaking.
"It wasn't anything special... but first, that village we went to last time was a place I recognized."
"Really? Did you live there for a bit?"
"No, not exactly... but I think I worked there for a while."
"...Work? What kind of work?"
"Actually, I’m not sure. But I followed this one guy around a lot... though I can’t quite remember exactly."
"Ah, I see..."
"And this village, I think I’ve been here a lot for work. The memories are clearer now, so I think I came here more often than the village we went to before."
As Karon spoke, he slowly turned his head and surveyed the village.
"Just looking around like this, memories of being in this village keep flooding back..."
"Hmm... It’s a bigger village with more people, so maybe you came often for the market. If you remember more, can you tell me about it?"
"If you want to know, Salvia, I’ll definitely tell you!"
Karon said this while smiling with his usual innocent face. Seeing that smile made me feel a little reassured.
‘Well, at least he’s still acting like the character from the original setting... No need to worry about a character shift.’
Thinking back, I realized Aquila and I might have overreacted. Karon seemed to be completely fine, without any dark changes.
"Karon, I’ve told you this a few times already."
"Yes?"
I started once again with the basic lessons I had repeated for Karon, who had lost his memories.
"If someone makes you angry, you should calmly tell them what needs to be corrected. If you can’t, you need to be patient. Never act violently."
"Yes!"
"Anything the country has prohibited, you absolutely cannot do. And if there's someone weaker than you, you need to help them if you can."
"Yes!"
As always, Karon answered correctly.
"When I'm not around, don’t do anything you haven’t been told to do, and wait patiently. And if there’s something you don’t know how to do and I’m not there, follow Aquila’s lead."
I went on to list out all the things Karon needed to keep in mind, almost as if channeling Winter himself.
"Ah, and in situations like this, when there are civilians around, be extra careful. I mean, non-Arkons. They’re much weaker than us, so we need to be cautious, especially with weapons, since they might see them as threatening. Don’t take them out."
It was a fact I often forgot in front of the seniors. I was used to Karon being cheerful and carefree in front of us, particularly with Aquila and myself. But when you just looked at his size, Karon could definitely seem intimidating.
At least he didn’t care much for his juniors, and whether they made mistakes or not, he didn’t get angry or seem to mind. That was probably the only saving grace. If he truly got angry, I imagined the juniors would have been terrified.
"I’ll keep that in mind!"
"Good."
In truth, I’d probably told Karon these same things at least a hundred times since he joined, but he always claimed he’d remember. And occasionally, he’d make mistakes and cause some chaos, which meant that repetition was essential.
"Phew, now that the work’s done, let’s head out. There’s more to do."
"Yes..."
I said, standing up from where I had been working, only to spot Patty and Matty struggling, half-buried in the mud.
"Just tell Jason... to keep an eye on his teammates..."
"I’m so sorry..."
"Ugh..."
I was already feeling uneasy because of Karon, and seeing them like this only made my head spin.
"Karon, go help them get out of there..."
"Yes!"
I waved my hand in a loose signal for him to go, and Karon ran over, starting to pull Patty and Matty out with Jason’s help.
"Ugh!"
With the force Karon used, Patty was flung out with a startled scream.
"Ugh!"
Next, Matty was pulled out, but...
"...Ah, I’m sorry."
As he pulled Matty out, the rebound caused Karon to stumble backward, inadvertently colliding with a person walking by.
The man, who looked like an ordinary villager, glanced at Karon with wide eyes and quickly took several steps back. Clearly, he was afraid of seeing a hetero sapien.
‘This is bad.’
I hoped he wouldn’t go file a complaint later about how he bumped into a hetero sapien.
"Karon, just... stay calm for now..."
I sent a signal to Karon to apologize again as I watched the still-shocked man.
"I’m sorry!"
Karon bowed again, and the man, finally recovering, responded in a small voice.
"It’s... it’s fine..."
The man hurriedly walked away, trying to cover his face but still glancing at Karon, clearly frightened.
‘Are they really that afraid of hetero sapiens?’
I scowled at the spot where the man had just been, and gestured for my juniors to finish up the work.
"Let’s really go now."
Just then, in a calm and unusual voice, Karon called out to me.
"Salvia."
"...Huh?"
Karon was standing there with a strange look on his face.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.
"I... I just remembered everything."
"...What?"
Had he really regained all his memories? So suddenly? What could possibly make this plausible?
As I stood there, confused, Karon uttered a shocking statement.
"The reason I lost my memories was because of dark magic."
"...Huh?"
"When I bumped into him, the dark magic broke. That’s why my memories returned."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
I couldn’t follow the flow of his words, but Karon finally started to explain.
"I was one of the young Arkons being used by the dark sorcerer."