Chapter 10. The First Hero (4)
Berler’s entire body was trembling.
Just from looking at him, anyone could tell how terrible the events back then had been.
However, it didn’t really move Kim Seongchan.
Something else caught his attention instead.
‘He won’t even look Ina-ye in the eyes.’
Berler clearly didn’t think highly of Ina-ye, even though she had thrown herself into danger to protect them from the Wild Pigs.
Ina-ye also kept her head lowered, acting as though she were the one who had done something wrong.
Berler continued speaking.
“The Terk Kingdom no longer sends reinforcements like it used to. We tried building walls, but we didn’t have enough people. We also tried putting up fences, but after a Wild Pig rammed into them a few times, they broke apart. Repairing them took even longer than building them, so eventually, we stopped……”
It was practically one long complaint.
Wild Pigs appeared.
The soldiers arrived late.
The fields were ruined.
The villagers were injured.
The villagers believed that people had been hurt because Ina-ye had arrived too late.
Berler seemed to think the same way.
‘Where exactly did things start going wrong?’
Berler’s voice was filled with resentment.
There had been times when Ina-ye hadn’t appeared, forcing the villagers to struggle against the Wild Pigs themselves.
Children were fighting illnesses because they couldn’t afford treatment.
Some people had even starved to death because there wasn’t enough food.
Berler endlessly listed all the damage they had suffered.
And every time he did, Ina-ye’s expression grew darker.
Kim Seongchan finally asked,
“So, what exactly is the problem?”
“As you’ve probably understood from everything I’ve told you, the Wild Pigs are the problem.”
Berler blamed the Wild Pigs.
According to him, the Wild Pigs ruined their fields and injured the villagers.
The knights and Heroes came too late.
Only a single Hero, Ina-ye, came to help them, which supposedly caused the damage to become even worse.
‘No.’
Berler had failed to understand the true cause of the problem.
The Wild Pigs weren’t the real problem.
And Ina-ye certainly wasn’t either.
“If ordinary fences didn’t work, did you ever think about quickly building wooden barricades? Or making shields and fighting them yourselves?”
“Didn’t I already tell you? The villagers fought together and defeated the Wild Pigs.”
“I’m asking whether you kept doing it.”
Berler fell silent.
His eyes seemed to ask Kim Seongchan to give him some kind of solution.
Berler was exhausted.
‘We did well enough just surviving until now. Why is he asking us for even more?’
That was probably what he was thinking.
After facing one hopeless situation after another, Berler considered the simple fact that the village had survived this long to already be an incredible achievement.
Kim Seongchan spoke calmly.
“You should have fought while assuming that neither the knights nor Ina-ye would come to help you.”
The Hero standing in front of Berler didn’t understand.
He didn’t understand just how hard their struggle had been.
How unreasonable the fight had been.
And more than anything else, what hurt Berler the most was—
“Then why are we even here?! We are citizens of the Terk Kingdom!”
Kim Seongchan immediately answered.
“Exactly because you’re citizens. You should fight—for the Terk Kingdom.”
Kim Seongchan didn’t want to hear any more of Berler’s excuses.
Berler opened his mouth as though he wanted to argue, but hesitated.
‘If I keep talking, he’ll only point out more things we failed to do. And I’ll only remember more painful things.’
Berler probably already knew.
Instead of trying to solve things themselves, they had simply waited for the Terk Kingdom to do something for them.
Kosdal had gone outside, but he hadn’t gone far.
He was leaning against the wall of the village chief’s house.
Since Kosdal was guarding the house, the villagers couldn’t easily approach.
Instead, they stood at a distance, trying to figure out what was happening inside.
They were probably worried.
Kim Seongchan had met with Berler because he wanted to understand everything that had happened.
However, if Kim Seongchan took Ina-ye away with him, there would no longer be any Hero left to help Tolkan Village.
The possibility that Ina-ye might stop helping them made the villagers visibly uneasy.
Then a voice spoke up.
“They did try. They built fences and cultivated the fields. Things just didn’t work out the way they wanted.”
It wasn’t Berler.
Ina-ye, who had been listening quietly, had stepped in to defend him.
Just as expected of a Shield Hero, Ina-ye possessed the strength to stand at the very front and protect others no matter what situation she was in.
She would even defend someone like Berler, who clearly disliked her.
‘I guess someone with a heart like hers can actually do something like this.’
An ordinary person wouldn’t continue helping people the way Ina-ye did.
Who would willingly help a village that cursed them?
Who would defend Berler, the village chief, after everything?
Only Ina-ye, who had continued protecting the village despite all the insults and abuse she received while hunting Wild Pigs, could do something like that.
Kim Seongchan looked at her.
“The Terk Kingdom is in a similar situation. You know that better than anyone, don’t you?”
Ina-ye’s courage was admirable.
But Kim Seongchan had no intention of backing down.
The way he spoke made it obvious that he understood the Terk Kingdom’s circumstances.
Ina-ye had nothing to say.
She had a close connection with the Terk Kingdom and knew its situation better than almost anyone.
The soldiers hadn’t been able to help.
That was precisely why Ina-ye had been moving in their place.
Berler knew that as well.
After a moment, Berler asked desperately,
“Is there really no other way?”
Berler looked genuinely desperate.
Since Kim Seongchan seemed to understand the Terk Kingdom’s situation to some extent, Berler assumed he might also have a solution.
‘Of course there’s a way.’
Kim Seongchan stood up and walked outside.
Berler and Ina-ye hurriedly rose as well and followed him.
Kosdal, who was still leaning against the wall, spoke.
“I’m curious what you’re planning.”
Kim Seongchan didn’t answer.
Instead, he followed Kosdal’s gaze.
Beside the fields was a mountain-like pile of Wild Pig corpses.
Under Taylor’s direction, the Wild Pigs were being sorted and piled according to size.
The villagers who had been watching through their windows quickly turned their heads and pretended they hadn’t been looking.
‘Bruises everywhere, and some of them barely have any flesh on their bodies.’
The villagers looked terrible.
They hadn’t been eating properly.
Their injuries hadn’t been properly treated either.
Those who still had enough strength were carrying the Wild Pigs.
Kim Seongchan’s eyes met Taylor’s.
“You gathered them all? You acted like you weren’t going to.”
Taylor replied flatly,
“I did it because I didn’t want to do something I’d regret later.”
Kim Seongchan looked at the pile.
“We could probably make a defensive wall out of those.”
Taylor stared at him.
“Was that seriously why you told us to gather them?”
There had once been Osl, whom Kim Seongchan had used as part of a defensive wall.
‘Well, Osl had a spirit, so that was mostly just to threaten him.’
Taylor frowned.
He had probably imagined the horrible smell that would come from using rotting Wild Pig corpses as a wall.
Kim Seongchan waved off the thought.
“If we built a wall out of Wild Pigs that already ruin the soil, all the crops would die. I know that much.”
Taylor visibly relaxed.
“Right. You do understand that.”
He let out a relieved sigh.
Kim Seongchan continued.
“Now that I’ve confirmed you gathered them, skin them and drain the blood.”
Taylor, who had just finished exhaling, immediately sucked in another breath.
Then he shouted,
“What are you talking about?!”
