Ashes and Kingdoms

"That's the limit now. I have no choice."

In a broken windmill shed, a man who was once its lord sighed. My wife also places her hands on her shoulders to comfort her, letting her round fuzzy face soak her with giving up and fatigue and nodding.

"We'll have to go before it gets any worse. Either way, we don't have any more property... it's going to be easy to pack."

A man also returns a bitter grin to his wife, who smiled inexorably. Their daughter was still young and couldn't stand the stinking air and raised her voice.

"We have to hurry if we decide to! They'll be here again at night. Let's gather up something we can use and get going. Brother Finn!"

Make sure to swing your blonde lowering vigorously to reorient your body and call the brunette boy in the corner of the cabin. The boy, who was cleaning up broken crates and broken pot fragments, responded calmly with his face up.

"Oh, I'm already starting. Nellis, look at the house with your aunt."

Brother Finn, as you can see from the way he called it, he was only three years older than the girl Nellis. That said, he's not my real brother. He's an adopted child. It's obvious to look like he's still a teenager, but is it the innate temperament that keeps the atmosphere calm for his age, or the infectious temperament of his adoptive father Oandus?

Oandus also decided that he couldn't just stay depressed and rolled up his sleeves to work with Finn. Clean up the piles of rubble built by the beasts that entered here last night, and collect from them what might still be useful and useful. From there, I choose only what I think I can take with me.

"Phineas, you should wear gloves."

"It's okay, I'll be careful"

Finn answered nicely with a broken tooth, but in fact, not a single pair of gloves remained to be worn safely.

While the two men were working hard, Nellis and his mother Fauna started packing at home. Sewing tools on clothes, pans, firestones and fire exits and grinding wheels. If I gather that and this, I will not be able to carry it at all. It took more time to sort than I thought.

There were plenty of spares to throw away, but there was no time to keep each of them snug for my hands. When the sun goes down, they'll come again. The beasts of darkness, with their blue glowing eyes and sharp fangs.

Eventually, when the sky was slightly golden, the family loaded the luggage car with any good fortune and left behind the windmill shed they were accustomed to living in. Outside the town of Nanais, the windmill built on a small, tall hill belonged to the family from the days of Oandus' great-grandfather and was also proud, but now, no matter how much wind had blown, it had borne fruit with only a squeaky roar and little to go around. The huge shadow with the West Day on its back was like a tomb mark, and it also shed darkness in the hearts of the family.

"... well, anyway," Nellis coughed. "You can handle it if you go to town. Right? There are walls, there are soldiers... they seem to be bad in nature these days, but for once, they can use weapons. If it works, Brother Finn, you might be able to hire me."

"I don't know. Sure, I was going to volunteer for the Legion sooner or later."

Finn smiled bitterly and saw where he was going.

Originally he grew up in an orphanage, which happened to be picked up by Oandus, but it wasn't so glamorous as to inherit its traces and become a powderhouse. The windmill cabin belongs to Nellis. That's what he had decided. Most of all, it's just ruined...

"I don't think that's the case now. Anyway, I'll stay with you until we all calm down."

"Don't be a strange farewell to this period."

Oandus shuddered, making an angry face and roaring.

"Come on, my mouth doesn't get sour either, but you're already family. Well, I can't deny that this is a difficult time."

"Really," Fauna pinches her mouth gently. "It would be nice if the mayor could at least sleep inside the city walls, even if he wanted to take care of us."

"Hmm... I don't even know if you're safe."

Oandus clouded his face. If we hadn't clashed with the banditized army and the mobbed citizens, Mayor Attila would still be partitioning the town's routine. He wouldn't have a hard time hitting the neighbors who lost their homes. But what if...

Nellis fought aloud against the anxiety that once again dominated the family.

"I wonder what the Almighty God Deia is doing! Maybe I'm busy with something else, but then I wish I could give you a little help, be it Lady Nena, Lady Fellinim or Lady Org, whoever you want!

"I'm sure the gods are gods, and it must be hard. Maybe the heavens are a lot harder than the earth."

Finn smiled half bitterly, half seriously, saying that. Nellis pointed his mouth and swelled puffy.

"My brother is a genius who bores things."

"That was bad"

Most responded without a bad wind, Finn laughed small.

The town of Nanais had changed considerably from the way the family remembered it.

Of course I go down to town with them. To add to your daily routine, or when you ask me to deliver ground powder. But for some time now, no one had come out of town to ask me to grind the powder to the windmill cabin, and the family couldn't get away from the house, so I didn't know what was going on.

"But not so much"

Oandus roared low.

The outer part of the city wall was completely wasteland. Though only the cobblestone on the street is solid, the quiet cemetery that was on both sides of it is devoid of traces. Tombstones were knocked down, crushed, or taken away, and the implantation of shrubs that blossomed adorable flowers was root-digging back.

Dotted in desolation is a platform that burns a bonfire from the beast. The beasts of darkness rarely come out in the light. For, no one has seen them properly, and they don't even know what body they have and how many types they exist. It's just called 'The Dark Beast' to distinguish it from ordinary beasts like wolves and pigs.

Throughout the burning shell rolling there, I could also see the bone shards. I don't know if it belongs to a human, but Finn pretended it was out of sight, looked around and said.

"You're trying not to make as much shade as you can."

At any rate, the tombstone, which was as long as its length, was immediately blocked by the lights of the bonfire, and the dark ones would push it until the time of the wall.

"For once, the legions here will protect the town."

I snapped like Nellis was relieved. Right, and his mother hammered him, but Finn dared not say anything.

With them soldiers, the beasts cannot be prevented without a wall they can rely on. We need to survive, so maybe we're just taking steps. If you remember your original mission of protecting your citizens, you can nine worships to the Almighty Deia.

Barely enjoying a spilled sigh, he saw where he was going. The city gate is closed at all times.

(Almighty Deia, please guide me. Have mercy on us, Naina, the goddess of mercy. And bless us, O Org of hidden power)

Finn knocked on the gate alongside Oandus, praying to the three-pillared God.

A peek window opens when there is an audible sound. His sharp, rough eyes moved, and he laid down his family.

"Refugee."

"It's Oandus from the windmill shed. The Dark Beast hit me with a cabin. I can't keep living there anymore. Will you let me in? I have four sons and four daughters."

"What about livestock?

"We've all been hit," Oandus shook his head. "Not a single duck left."

At the end of last night, Roba managed to protect him until the end. Otherwise it wouldn't have been Oandus pulling the luggage, it would have been Roba.

Cold blue eyes stared at the family in silence. After glancing at what was piled up on the carrier, he watched each one lick from head to toe, and apparently calculated that it would be better to put it in and do it. The basin and peep window shut rampantly, then the general gate opened.

"Get in. Hurry up, hurry up"

He was invited, and although the family saw each other anxiously, they went in with the sleaze according to the order. It was out of the question, such as going out in the open. Tomorrow morning it will be only bones.

Inside the walls, the familiar township remained for once.

Unlike houses with mud-painted walls and thatched roofs on the mesh, often in the northern countryside, Nanais has many tiled roof buildings on lacquered walls. On sunny days, the brilliance of white beams contrasts well with the blue sea, giving us the peace of mind that this is an undisputed “city" and the pleasant mood to float. But now, even if the sun shot, I wasn't going to want it anyway.

On the side of the road and in the square, the vacant place was strewn with crude tents, and a lot of thin, dirty people nodded. Some lay on doorboards and a piece of fur with nothing to sneeze through the rain dew. The unprecedented stench stood in no matter where.

"... oh my god"

Finn was roaring unconsciously. Even though my head knew that the situation was not the only one that required the same cleanliness and order as before, I had a bad chest for the sight in front of me.

Nanais has small public facilities such as public halls and baths. There are not many lodgings, but there are a few, and if we all use those buildings anyway, people won't flood the roadside so far.

To a family who was disgusted, the gatekeeper cut out "well" in a dignified manner.

"I let him in. All you have to do is rely on someone you know, join them there, and be your own. This luggage truck will be collected."

Even though I was told naturally, there was no time for the family to react.

"What?

Oandus faints. But at that time, there was a line of fellow soldiers laughing slightly at each side of the gatekeeper. I heard he was new, and he stopped by to catch up with his prey.

Scared by disturbing signs, Nellis clings to Finn's arm. But Finn didn't have the power to beat him up, even if he did. I don't hold a weapon or other stick, and my opponent is a soldier with a sword.

"Of course not?

The gatekeeper said without even trying to hide his mean pleasure.

"In this emergency, you're not going to think we're the only ones who can see good eyes. I confiscate all this. You use it to protect the town from the beasts of darkness!

"And the pot?

Nellis leaks his ridiculous voice, and the next moment, he regrets and breathes. The gatekeeper turned a blind eye and his fellow soldiers widened their brutal laughter even further.

"Did I say something, young lady? You didn't hear me."

…………

Nellis could only shake her head small in silence. Bite your lips at remorse, clench your fists so much that your joints are white.

The gatekeeper satiated and signaled his companions. Take it with you. At the same time that they laid their hands on the luggage, Oandus returned to me and opened his mouth.

"Please, at least..."

but I couldn't even finish saying it. Suddenly he hit me on the side, glancing and taking a few steps. Another soldier slammed down its back with a stone clash of spears, and Oandus crawled to the ground softly. Fauna rushes over to her husband and tries to protect her from any further assault. The gatekeeper just rang his nose.

As they tried to walk away, Finn clenched his fist all the time, calling with determination.

"Wait."

The soldiers did not reply, and turned to say what you wanted to be beaten up too. To the arrogant and unmerciful, Finn remembered his anger from the bottom of his belly, but said with much restraint.

"I was originally going to volunteer for the Corps. So... I want to work for you, too. Instead, could you at least leave these people with the least of them?"

"You want me to buy a hot pot jacket with my own life? Nice work."

As the gatekeeper slowly returned looking interesting, he looked around at Finn to make it even worth the livestock.

"I thought it might work... which,"

"-!"

Suddenly his fist was slapped into his belly and Finn broke his body. but I manage to hold out just a half step behind. He was assaulted by a kick that went on and punched him in the back, legs and flank as well, but thanks to his fitness, he managed not to get on his knees.

As Finn was in pain and eating up his teeth, the gatekeeper rang his nose and nodded, "Let's be good".

"Kid, what's your name?"

"... Phineas"

I manage to answer, then I realize that the gatekeeper is still in a mood waiting for something and add, "Yes." My lord, it may have been a good idea to call it, but Hate Finn wasn't that familiar with the titles and honors inside the regiment.

"I'll spare you your guts and leave your luggage behind. Come."

That's all he says, he calls Finn with his jaw, and he just walks out.

Nellis touched Finn's arm reluctantly, but was unlikely to get a respite to spare her goodbye. Finn manages to smile at the edge of his mouth, forcing him to walk in the right position.

Several of the soldiers continued later, and the rest turned their backs to return to the gatekeeper's shed again. And one of them stopped fumbling and laughed cold when he saw Nellis.

"Well at best you work hard to protect this jerk. Otherwise, that kid will be floating around. At least not until about tomorrow morning!

Almost fun-filled, he laughs and walks away from teasing. The three remaining men were dismayed, and then finally realized the ominous signs surrounding them.

Thin dirty lodgers are paying attention. Hungry eyes, half-opened mouths that seem to be wanting, the men who are gathering here and there.

Nellis sipped his sagging, and Oandus looked around as he put his face to the pain.

"... Anyway, let's get out of here. Dear Attila, I can't, but I need to find someone who still has a conscience."

"Yeah, let's do that. Kunad's wife might be able to help."

Fauna nodded and stood beside the luggage car with perseverance. And Nellis stood on the other side, saying, "I will not give you this." Oandus ate his teeth and pulled his luggage and walked out.