"Of course. Demons won't teach us, so we can just change our target," Ignoring Aura's sneering laughter, he walked ahead without turning back and said, "But for now... let's leave this place first."
"Yes, yes~", Aura wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, clearly uninterested, and followed him out of the village.
And yet, just before leaving, Ash casually set the houses on fire, plunging the village into a sea of flames, then turned around and left the place where they had once lived.
.
.
.
Not long after they set off, Aura poked him in the stomach with her elbow, looking annoyed.
"By the way, where are we going next? I heard there's some kind of Demon King in the north. Want to go hang around there?"
"I'm thinking about that too."
"So what's the result now?"
"I said I'm thinking."
"Roughly what kind of plan?"
"You're really annoying. Dial it back a bit."
"No, I'm great— mmph?"
Aura puffed out her chest and rejected him without thinking, but before she could finish speaking, he slapped a hand over her face, cutting off whatever she was about to say next.
Then he pushed the obstructive Aura aside and strode ahead, frowning deeply as he worried about where he should go next.
If possible, he didn't want to keep wandering anymore. Maybe joining the Demon King would be a better choice?
———
After leaving the village, Ash didn't know whether the villagers had told others that demons had once lived there, but with a demon massacre having occurred, this entire area would definitely become more dangerous for them.
That made him worry repeatedly. He glanced again at Aura, who was sulking not far away but had already climbed back onto the demonic bull.
Even though he didn't really want to talk to her, noticing his gaze, Aura couldn't help asking, "What is it? Thought it through now?"
"Let's go back first. We'll talk while moving."
He climbed onto the wolf's back as well, keeping a bit of distance from Aura, and continued thinking about their next steps.
When they returned to the simple wooden cabin they lived in, he sat down on the roughly made wooden sofa, looked at the girl opposite him who seemed carefree, and sighed.
"Thinking about it seriously, we really should leave this place. If we stay here long-term, sooner or later we might get surrounded and wiped out."
"You need to protect me properly. If I run into danger, that'd be troublesome."
"That's exactly what I was going to say, but isn't now a bit early to discuss that?", He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head, "Still, our bond really is deep. You really live up to being my little sister."
"More importantly, where should we go after leaving here?"
"North. That's the demons' main base."
"So it's north after all~ Well, I don't really care."
Since Ash had already made his decision, Aura naturally didn't plan to waste time thinking. She stood up right away and went to pack.
It wasn't that demons didn't procrastinate, but when their lives were on the line, they were all extremely efficient. Aura's behavior made that especially obvious.
So after making their decision, the two of them began packing together, preparing to head north across the continent that very day, toward where demons gathered.
It wasn't because they liked other demons or felt loyal to any Demon King. Demons only ever pledged loyalty to themselves. This was simply to avoid being killed.
Although demons often slaughtered each other, with the weak being mercilessly trampled, sometimes they were also ignored. That was still better than humans, who would immediately start killing on sight.
Of course, humans weren't much better. They often slaughtered each other and ruthlessly oppressed the weak as well. Relatively speaking, demons followed a more naked law of the jungle, while humans were more social. Just that the twisted ones among them had even more ways to torment the weak.
Maybe both sides saw the other as abnormal, but at least for now, they had no energy to ponder questions only philosophers or sociologists cared about.
Thanks to Ash's hornless appearance, their northward journey went unexpectedly smoothly.
The beast horde moved through the forests on its own. Ash sat at the front, driving the carriage as the coachman. Aura hid inside the carriage like a noble lady, dressed somewhat like a Middle Eastern woman, her head wrapped tightly.
"Ahh! I'm so bored. Ash, tell me a joke," Aura's complaining voice came from inside the carriage, and he shot back without a second thought, "Don't bother me. I'm reading."
"A new book you bought? What's so interesting about human history? You're really weird."
"I don't want to be as ignorant as you," He occasionally flicked the reins at the horse, his eyes never leaving the book he had recently bought in town, studying the history of this world.
Aside from occasionally responding to Aura when she tried to chat out of boredom, he also discovered, in an ancient history book so yellowed it was practically crumbling and thrown in as a free extra, a name that caught his attention.
"Five hundred years ago, the era where all humans could practice magic was opened... The great mage Flamme had an even stronger master, considered the mage closest to the goddess, the great mage Serie?"
Carefully flipping through the already damaged book, he felt like he had stumbled upon a long-forgotten yet astonishing figure, and couldn't help murmuring, "If only I could learn from someone like this. Flamme's magic five hundred years ago already far surpassed this era. Serie must have been even stronger, right?"
"Those two wouldn't teach demons, would they?", Aura poked her head out from behind, plopped her chin on his shoulder, and mercilessly poured cold water on his thoughts.
"It's just a random thought. It's been five hundred years anyway. No one even knows if Serie is still alive. Also, your horn is poking my temple. It hurts. Don't stick to me like that next time."
For a legendary mage described in just a few lines, Ash could only feel regret.
If he had someone to teach him too, and that someone was the strongest mage in the world, maybe he wouldn't have had to hide away in the mountains like before. Maybe the tragedy of that village wouldn't have happened. Ever since reading that book, thoughts like these occasionally crossed his mind.
They were only thoughts. After all, traveling through time was basically wishful thinking.
For quite a while after that, the two traveled at an unhurried pace, thinking together about how to find a peaceful place to continue their magical research.
.
.
.
Early in the morning, just as the sun rose above the horizon, the air was extremely cold and slightly damp.
On a lonely road with no sign of habitation, seemingly endless, a solitary carriage rolled forward. Just as they were about to leave the country, there saw a group of fully armed soldiers were guarding the border ahead.
"Because it's wartime, they don't allow people to leave freely?", Ash was a bit troubled. Aura's voice came from behind him, "Should we just kill them?"
"Don't act unless it's absolutely necessary. What if there's more troops nearby?"
"Fine, fine. I'll listen to you," Aura gave up arguing immediately.
Ash got down from the carriage and looked at the soldiers surrounding him. He took out some money, intending to bribe his way through, but... things developed in a way he hadn't expected.
These soldiers weren't like usual, easily sent away with a bit of money. Instead, they directly took him away, telling Aura, who looked quite young, to go back.
The situation could only be described with one phrase: conscription.
During wartime, dragging people off for labor or forcing them into service was completely normal. That explained why there was no one else on this road. The locals all knew soldiers were stationed here grabbing able-bodied men.
What to do? Kill them? Or follow them for now and look for a chance to escape? Leave peacefully? After worrying for a bit, he shook his head slightly toward Aura, who was peeking from afar, and was taken away under her gaze.
The two were forced to part ways at that moment.
Aura felt annoyed for a moment, but chose to detour and leave this war-torn country, continuing northward, because...
'It's Ash, after all. No way he'll just die that easily,' With that thought, Aura left without much concern.
Without Ash, she could only avoid populated areas and take longer routes through the forests.
As for Ash, whether it was luck or misfortune, he was taken straight to a recruit camp rather than being sent off as forced labor.
When registering his information, he mentioned that he could use magic and even demonstrated it on the spot, smoothly becoming a battlefield mage and receiving what seemed like fairly decent treatment.
Within the camp, much of the country's magic knowledge was open to him, making him realize he might not even need to go north anymore. He could just stay immersed in the camp, studying magic every day.
But this kind of life only lasted a month. After being issued a military knife and mage robes, he followed the army as they marched toward enemy territory.
That night, the atmosphere among the entire mage unit was extremely heavy. Many people, like him, had been forcibly conscripted and dragged into a war they never chose.
Ash and three newly acquainted companions received some preferential treatment as mages. Even during the march, they didn't need to walk and instead stayed together inside a carriage.
Of course, this was mostly to conserve their strength so they could perform better on the battlefield, but...
"I'm going to die! Going to die! Going to die! Going to die! Going to die! Going to die!", The young female mage sitting across from Ash hugged her knees in the corner, her face dark as she repeated the same words over and over.
If one looked closely, her body was trembling nonstop.
Sitting beside Ash, closer to the outside, the middle-aged woman kept stroking a letter with her thumb. Ash recognized it and knew it was a letter from her daughter.
Nothing strange about that. Most people on the battlefield used family or lovers as the hope that let them survive this hell. It seemed the same even in another world.
As for the elderly man with a long beard sitting diagonally across, he clutched a wooden statue of the goddess and prayed nonstop. But from spending time together, Ash knew he wasn't actually a believer of the Creation Goddess. He was just clinging to faith at the last moment.
Whether grasping at straws like this would have any effect, the upcoming battlefield would probably provide the answer.
Compared to his teammates, Ash appeared the calmest.
Even though the war and hatred here had nothing to do with him, and he was nothing more than a passerby, at least for now, no matter how unwilling, he had already been dragged into the war.
Having already experienced the law of the jungle in forests and the small-scale conflict of a village, he was better prepared than those who had been dragged in like him.
Perhaps because of this composure, he became the leader of the four-person carriage unit.
"Hah! I hope this war ends quickly."
'Or maybe finding a chance to leave this hellhole would be better?', He kept that second thought to himself and slightly lifted the carriage curtain.
Outside the window, a vast snow-covered plain stretched endlessly. In the distance, forests dotted the white land like emeralds, reflecting the faintly glowing sky.
During the monotonous march, time seemed to slip into daytime in the blink of an eye, and Ash found himself absorbed by the scenery outside.
The air carried the crisp freshness of ice and snow. Unfortunately, the dense sound of hooves crunching through snow ruined the view.
After a long while, at the far end of the endless snowfield, quiet town streets came into view, yet they looked especially desolate.
As the army drew closer, the sight of old houses and recruitment notices everywhere filled his vision, instantly killing his interest.
"It's already daytime. After eating, we should reach the front line soon," He muttered and closed his eyes.
Snow was rare in the southern kingdoms, but this place lay on a plateau, covered in ice and snow year-round. The two countries were fighting precisely for control of this snowy plain.
———
Not far from the town, in stark contrast to the earlier scenery, were the neatly lined formations of both armies.
However, the front ranks of the opposing army looked somewhat chaotic, but... that was understandable.
Because at the very front was a group of children with an average age of no more than ten. Boys and girls alike, their eyes empty, swords clutched in their hands. Clearly, they were the foremost cannon fodder and living shields.
"Don't their parents have objections? Aren't they afraid of causing riots? Or are they all orphans?", Ash couldn't help murmuring.
The middle-aged woman from his unit, who had been sitting across from him earlier, showed a complicated expression when she heard that, "What parents? They're all war orphans..."
"Is that so? Then our side is a bit better?"
"More or less. We still have some leeway for now, but who knows later. So, leader, if I die, could you look after my child? I don't want my child to also—"
"Wait, we've only known each other for a month and you're saying this already?"
"But right now you're the leader, and you look the calmest, so..."
'Am I the only one you can ask?', He nodded silently, then couldn't help sighing, "Even if I get out of this war, I won't stay here. So I can't accept your request."
"You're really heartless. At a time like this, even comforting words should agree."
"I don't like lying, so you'll have to find a way to survive yourself."
After that, he ignored the middle-aged woman's mournful face and focused on preparing himself for the coming clash.
Once their side finished preparations, the drums of war echoed across the plains. The army marched in orderly ranks, loosing arrows at the enemy's foremost cannon fodder.
The mages followed closely behind, staffs raised, already gathering powerful magic.
In this murderous atmosphere, Ash blended in, symbolically performing his role by throwing fireballs into the dense crowds.
Originally, he just wanted to muddle through, do the bare minimum, then look for a chance to escape, but reality turned out harsher than he had imagined.
Just as the two armies clashed fiercely, a cavalry unit suddenly burst out from nowhere on the flank, like a sharp blade piercing through the supporting forces protecting them, charging straight toward them amid flying dust.
Mages in this era generally cast spells slowly. Faced with such a sudden attack, they were especially lacking in countermeasures. That was why they had been given military knives in the first place.
In an instant, screams erupted around him, and a terrifying hell descended.
The world was unknowingly dyed red with blood. One by one, his former companions fell. Yet... gravity magic allowed him to shine amid the chaos.
But when the hours-long conflict finally ended, most of his former teammates were nowhere to be seen. The only one still alive beside him was the middle-aged woman who had stared at her daughter's letter and fought to the very end. She knelt on the ground, barely still breathing.
"You're really impressive. Does that so-called faith really increase a person's survival rate?"
Looking at the woman whose throat had been cut by a knight's sword, blood flowing nonstop, yet who still clutched her wound and struggled, then at the clerics running toward them, Ash couldn't help feeling a bit surprised at her survival, but...