Hometown
When we stepped outside the house, the cold wind blowing through made my body shiver before I could stop it.
I looked up, and the snow that had supposedly stopped had begun falling again.
Caught in the daylight, fine flakes drifted slowly down, lightly whitening the ground and the rooftops of the houses.
Valdo started walking without a word.
Perched on his shoulder, I glanced at his profile.
He showed no reaction at all to the falling snow.
Even when the cold wind brushed across his cheek, not a single expression changed.
Valdo passed between the rows of houses and went deeper along the deserted street.
Compared to the homes near the village entrance, and the house where Carion was resting now, the buildings around here were in terrible shape.
Wall planks had been loosened by the wind and were half torn away. Roofs had caved in beneath the weight of snow. Fences buried in snow were broken, and beneath the shadow of a gate remained dark scorch-like stains.
… Could those be traces of a monster attack?
As I looked over those houses, I tilted my head.
… Where is Valdo planning to go?
I’d assumed he would meet up with the other members.
But ahead of where he walked, there wasn’t a single person in sight, not even footprints.
All I could hear instead was the wind...
And Valdo’s quiet breathing.
At last, he stopped in a secluded corner deep within the abandoned village.
Crunching through the snow, he stepped beneath the eaves of a crumbling building.
Fine snow drifted through the gaps in the broken roof, and white specks quietly settled onto Valdo’s shoulders.
He stood there silently for a while. Then he lifted me down from his shoulder and held me in his arms instead.
The motion was strangely heavy, slow somehow… not like him at all.
A little worried, I gave a small cry. “Nyaa.”
His gaze dropped. My eyes met those gray ones.
That expression looked nothing like his usual bold grin.
The faint smile at the edge of his lips was somehow lonely… and something thumped deep in my chest.
“... This village looks a lot like the hometown where I was born and raised.”
His low mutter was quieter than the wind.
When I gave a small cry, Valdo raised the corner of his mouth in a bitter little smile.
“The village I lived in too... got wrecked by monsters a long time ago.”
Breaking his words apart, Valdo stared into the distance.
Most likely… what those gray eyes were seeing wasn’t the abandoned village before us now, but the scenery of the hometown he had lost.
“The villagers were killed. The fields and livestock were all devoured. But... the lord’s knights came rushing in and drove the monsters off.”
There, Valdo fell silent for a moment.
His face was so heavy I could hardly imagine it belonged to the man I knew.
“... But that’s when the real hell started. Once the fields and livestock are gone, there’s no way farmers can survive. Farmers barely own anything you could call property to begin with.”
Valdo stared at the snow-covered ground.
He went quiet for a while, as if searching for the words, then continued in a low voice.
“The ones who survived were all exhausted. Even so, they begged other villages, towns, the lord, anyone, to help them live... but nobody would lift a hand. Said they had no stores to spare on outsiders.”
The voice telling it was terribly flat.
That was exactly why I could clearly tell there was pain inside him that had never vanished.
“That winter... a lot of people died. Of hunger and cold.”
After a short pause, Valdo continued quietly.
“... My family died too. Every one of them. My mother’s last words were this…
‘Would’ve been better if we’d died when the monsters attacked.’”
As he said that, those gray eyes looking over the ruined village seemed fixed somewhere far away.
Unable to say anything, I simply looked up at him from within his arms.
“... After that, the villagers who were left, less than half of us, worked together and somehow made it through winter. But when spring came, things got even worse.”
Valdo let out a breath like a bitter laugh.
His mouth was smiling, yet there was no strength in his voice.
“The lord accused us of unpaid taxes. Said he’d gone out of his way to send knights to protect a village attacked by monsters, so why weren’t we paying what was owed.”
His tone carried a dry sound that was neither disbelief nor anger, yet somehow both.
I listened in stunned disbelief.
No way… the village was in that condition, and they still condemned them for unpaid taxes...?
That was far too cruel...!
These were people mourning the loss of their fields, their livestock, and above all their families to monster attacks. What an inhuman thing to do.
I nearly cried out in anger, but held it back and waited for Valdo to continue.
“The men of the village desperately protested to the magistrate, but he wouldn’t listen. In the end... we had no choice but to sell the young ones to slave traders to pay the taxes.”
Valdo lowered his eyes slightly. But what floated there wasn’t regret.
Only the color of frozen resignation.
“... I was one of the ones sold. But well… thanks to that, the former Commander of the Black Iron Claws bought me, and that’s why I’m still alive now.”
“Meow...”
I never imagined Valdo had joined the Black Iron Claws through something like that...
I hadn’t known. No, I hadn’t even imagined it.
Just thinking about how Valdo must have felt back then made my chest ache like it would split apart.
With no one to save him. No one to rely on.
How deep a despair had he endured while choosing to keep living?
Just imagining that weight made it hard to breathe.
But, Valdo looked down at me and laughed strongly.
As though mocking his own old scars.
“That day, I learned it for real. A place to belong isn’t something somebody gives you. It’s something you take for yourself. And if you don’t have strength, even that’ll be stolen from you in the end. That lesson... I learned down to the marrow of my bones.”
Then, all at once, Valdo’s tone softened.
His eyes turned as if remembering something dear.
“Our current base, you know... used to be a town that got wiped out in a monster attack. Every believer and every priest there was killed. So the church abandoned the place, calling it ‘tainted ground.’ The Commander back then pushed hard and negotiated with the church, and the Black Iron Claws bought it.”
Valdo’s lips loosened, and he smiled nostalgically.
“Most of the people who joined the Black Iron Claws didn’t leave their homes because they wanted to. When we got that place, everybody said, ‘We finally have somewhere to return to’... and cried with joy.”
As he said that, Valdo stared straight at me.
Within those gray eyes shone a sharpened light of resolve.
“I won’t let anyone ever take away the place they finally found to return to. And of course, I don’t intend to let a single one of them die either. I’ll protect it all to the very end.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
But amid the cold snow, it rang out so clearly it felt like the air itself trembled.
“... Nyaa.”
After a short silence, I gently rubbed my head against his chest and gave a small cry.
Because I felt his resolve and beliefs were something truly precious.
But Valdo let out a self-mocking laugh.
“Hah... Not like me at all. Never once told anybody a boring story like that.”
Despite his words, his fingers reached out and softly stroked my head.
I gave his finger a quick little lick with my tongue.
Valdo blinked in surprise, then smiled softly.
“... I’ve got my position as Commander to think about. Can’t let the lower ranks see me looking pathetic. But you... you won’t go spreading it around to anyone.”
“Meow.”
After breathing out a self-deprecating sigh, Valdo put a little more strength into the arms holding me.
As though confirming warmth.
I pressed my head against his hard chest.
From there, I could faintly feel his quiet heartbeat.
A strong heartbeat that had swallowed all the pain and suffering of the past, and overcome it.
Listening to that sound, I quietly closed my eyes.
“... Thanks.”
A low, small voice whispered right beside my ear.
I answered with a short, “Meow,” buried my face against his chest, and purred.
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