YGGDRASIL: The Undead King

Chapter 3 ~A New World~

Carne Village.

It was located on the border of the Kingdom at the Empire, near the southern tip of the Azellerisia Mountain Range, just outside a patch of woodland named the Great Forest of Tob.For a frontier village of the Re-Estize Kingdom, its population was unexceptional — 120 souls, distributed among 25 families.The village made its living from the resources of the forest and agriculture. Apart from doctors and herbalists who came to collect herbs, the only visitors to the village were the yearly tax collectors. Time seemed to stand still for the few residents of this village.Village life was very busy even in the early hours of the morning. Villages did not possess the magical illumination of [Continual Light] which could be found in cities, so the villagers would rise with the sun and work hard all day until the sun went down.The first thing Enri Emmot did after getting up extra early in the morning was to carry water from the nearby well. Hauling water was a woman's job, and once she finished filling the big water tank in the house, that chore was complete. By this time, her mother would have prepared breakfast for their family of four.Breakfast was barley or wheat porridge, as well as cooked vegetables. Sometimes, they would have dried fruit as well.After breakfast, she would tend the fields with her parents. Her 10 year-old sister would go into the forest to gather firewood or help with the field work. When the bell in the middle of the village — the village square — rang to signal noon, everyone would break for lunch.Lunch would be black bread baked several days before, as well as soup with some shredded meat jerky sprinkled in.Field work would resume after lunch, and when the sun set they would return home for dinner.For dinner, they would have the same black bread that they had for lunch, as well as bean soup. If the village's hunters managed to bag any prey, they might be able to get some meat to go with their dinner. After dinner, the family would gather around the light of the hearth-fire to take care of household chores, such as mending worn or damaged clothes.They would go to sleep around 8.The girl Enri Emmot was born 16 years ago and had become a part of the village since then. She had lived these days all her life. In her heart, she wondered: how much longer will these unchanging days continue?

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Today was no different from any other. After waking up, Enri went to the well to carry water.After filling her buckets at the well, she would need three trips to fill the house's water tank."Yosh~"Enri rolled up her sleeves, exposing her untanned skin, which was pale and stood out. Long years of farm life ensured that although her arms looked slender and frail, they were actually very strong, with just a hint of muscle on them. The filled buckets were very heavy, but Enri hoisted them up like she always did.If the buckets were bigger, I could make fewer trips, wouldn't that make things easier? Then again, if the buckets were bigger, I probably wouldn't be able to lift them...As Enri thought about that issue on her way back home, she heard a sound and turned to look at it. There was tension in the air over there, and the seeds of fear began sprouting in her heart.Her ears seemed to pick up something like wood being broken, and after that—"A scream—?"It sounded like a strangled bird, but it was definitely not a bird's call.A chill ran down Enri's spine. Unbelievable. There must be some kind of mistake. It couldn't be a human's voice. She tried to erase her unease with these thoughts, and then they vanished.She had to run to the source of the scream, because it was coming from the direction of her home.Enri cast aside the water buckets. She could not run while carrying that heavy burden.Although she nearly tripped over her long skirt, she managed to keep her balance by some stroke of luck.The sound rang through the air once more.Enri's heart lurched in her chest.There was no mistake about it — it was a human scream.She ran, and ran, and ran.Enri could not recall going faster than this in her life. She was running so fast that her legs were about to tangle each other up.The neighs of horses. The screams of people, and shouts.These sounds were becoming clearer and clearer.In the distance, Enri could see an unfamiliar man in armor swinging his sword at a villager.The villager collapsed to the ground with a howl of pain, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and a swift thrust from the sword dealt him a fatal blow."Morga-san..."There were no strangers in a small village like this. Everyone was as close as kin. As such, Enri knew exactly who had been killed before her eyes.Mr. Morga was a loud but pleasant man. He had done nothing wrong, and did not deserve to die like this. Enri wanted to stop — but in the end she gritted her teeth and ran on.The distance that felt fairly close while carrying water now felt like an endless stretch. As the sounds of shouts and cursing filtered into her ears, she finally saw her home before her."Dad! Mom! Nemu!"Enri opened the door as she shouted for her family.She found three familiar faces with unfamiliar looks of fear. They were motionless. However, when Enri opened the door and entered, their faces softened, the fear replaced by relief. "Enri! Are you all right?"Her father hugged her in his strong arms, which were brawny and tough from field work."Ahhh, Enri..."Her mother's gentle arms embraced her."Good, Enri's back, then we'd better flee too!"The Emmot family was in grave danger. They had stayed at home because they were worried about leaving Enri behind, and so they had missed the best chance to escape. The threat to their lives would be catching up with them any moment now.As she thought about that fear, it became a reality.Just as the family was about to run, a human figure appeared in the house's doorway. The man silhouetted by sunlight, glittered. He was a fully-armored knight whose breastplate bore the insignia of the Baharuth Empire. He held a longsword in his hand.The Baharuth Empire was a neighbor of the Re-Estize Kingdom, and the two of them had waged frequent wars against each other. Until recently, the flames of war were mostly limited to the region around the Fortress City of E-Rantel, and had not spread to this village.However, the quiet life they had enjoyed would end here.Enri could feel the man's cold eyes on her from between the vision slits of his helmet, as though he were counting up how many people were in Enri's family. It frightened her.The knight clenched the gauntlet holding his sword, and a creaking sound came from where metal rubbed against metal.And then, just as he was about to enter the house—"Uooooh!""Nuuuu!"—Her father lunged at the man, tackling him out of the doorway and out of the house with his momentum."Hurry up and run!""Damn you!"Blood streamed from a small cut on her father's face. He must have gotten hurt while bull-rushing the knight.Enri's father was rolling around as he grappled with the knight on the ground. The knight grabbed the hand of Enri's father which was holding a knife, while he in turn kept the knight from drawing his shortsword.The sight of blood on the body of one of her family members made Enri's mind go white. She wavered over whether to help her father or run away."Enri! Nemu!"Her mother's shouts helped Enri regain herself, and as she looked at her mother, she saw the older woman shaking her head, with a heart-breaking expression on her face.Enri grabbed her little sister's hand and ran after her mother with big strides. Guilt and hesitation clawed at her heart, but in the end, she knew they had to flee into the Great Forest of Tob.The neighing of horses, angry shouts, the clash of steel, and the stench of burning flesh.All these assaulted Enri's ears and nose from the direction of the village. Where had it come from? Enri ran with all her might as she tried to make sense of matters. When fleeing to an open space, she had to make her body as small as possible, or hide in the corners of houses.The violent beating of her heart chipped away at the fear that threatened to freeze her body solid. In addition, the small hand she held in hers spurred her on.—Her sister.Her mother, who was running ahead of her, suddenly froze, and immediately doubled back, her hands frantically gesturing at them to run somewhere else.As Enri realized why her mother would do that, she bit her lip, and forced back her tears.She clenched her little sister's hand and ran, trying desperately to get away from here, because she did not want to see what would happen next.