The next village, Snowhill, was covered in an even thicker haze of Malice than the last, and the villagers’ symptoms were accordingly worse. The place was a virtual ghost town. Most of them must have been either taking shelter indoors or otherwise unable to leave their homes.

Lusya was guessing the latter. The one man they passed stumbled past with eyes glazed over, drawing ragged, haggard breaths. He didn’t even seem to notice Lusya’s group, and he almost collapsed right before their eyes, for no apparent reason other than his condition. There was nothing for him to trip over, nor had he tripped over his own feet or nothing as people sometimes did. It seemed as if he simply lost the strength to stand. He managed to catch himself on a building and, after a moment’s rest, recovered enough to continue walking. Both Beldo and Ariya wanted to help him after that, but he remained unresponsive and walked off without acknowledging their offers of aid.

The innkeeper was in a similar daze. At least, Lusya presumed he was the innkeeper. The man half-strewn across the inn’s bar was the only man present in the inn. He, at least, acknowledged them, but only to look their way and slur his way through, “I’ll be with you in a minute,” before returning to motionless silence. He was not, in fact, with them in a minute. It seemed hiding indoors didn’t accomplish much. That was not surprising, seeing as the mist was just as thick inside the inn as outside. Lusya had noticed this in the last village as the fog was dissipating too: physical obstacles meant nothing to this mist. It covered an area without regard for walls, ceilings or other obstructions. Perhaps that was too be expected. The mist was Malice, something that normally lacked a physical form. The device had made it visible, but not tangible.

That device here must have been placed earlier, perhaps while the count had been heading east on whatever trip he had been returning from when he had passed through the other village. It was impossible to say if this was the sole or primary purpose of said trip. He may have had legitimate reasons to travel and used it as an opportunity to do whatever it was he was doing, or he may have arranged a trip so he had a chance to do this. Or there might not have been a trip. He might have been traveling around placing these devices and telling the locals that he was traveling on some business as an excuse for why he was there. Not that a nobleman needed to justify himself to peasants, but he may still have wanted to avoid suspicion.

Regardless, this placement must have been quite a bit earlier, since the Malice’s accumulation had plateaued in the earlier village. It would have taken some time for the Malice to grow noticeably thicker as it was here. Or, perhaps, this device had been placed later and was simply better at its job, if this stagnation was indeed its purpose.

Fortunately, even the effects of this thicker haze did not appear to be immediate. Ariya did not complain and showed no signs of discomfort, save for her obvious concern for the villagers.

“We’ve gotta help, Lusya!” she exclaimed as they left the inn after it had become clear the innkeeper would remain unresponsive. Attempting to speak to him only drew repeated assurances that he would tend to them in a moment upon which he never acted. Lusya would have liked to ask if anyone knew where the device was, but she supposed they would have to search for it again.

“We will. Do not worry.”

Beldo, meanwhile, looked around at the fog-laden village with a deep scowl. “I’ve never seen it this bad before. He must have improved the design. Or is the location different?”

“I trust we will find a device nearby like last time,” Lusya said.

Beldo nodded. “We should, yeah. Let’s hurry up and find it. It looks like our count’s been even busier than I thought.”

“Indeed.”

Locating the device did not take long. Much like last time, it was hidden in a nearby forest. Lusya supposed it made sense to hide it somewhere out of the way, and most people would not know to look for it, and may not even realize it was behind this phenomenon if they stumbled upon it. Even if they did, they may not take it upon themselves to solve the problem, or they may be unable or unwilling to get past the guards. But the consistency did make things easier for someone who did know to look for the device and was more than capable of destroying it.

That, too, was not difficult. It was guarded by mercenaries like the last one. Lusya was guessing they had some means of counteracting the symptoms the stagnant Malice caused, seeing as the last group had appeared hale and healthy. But it was obvious those means were not perfect. Lusya and the others arrived to find the mercenaries sluggish and lethargic, leaning against the surrounding trees to keep themselves from falling over.

They slowly stood and turned to face Lusya’s group when they arrived. The mercenaries drew their swords and scowled, though it looked more like they were squinting, barely able to keep their eyes open from fatigue.

“Back off,” the leader managed to bark out before letting out a loud, wet cough.

“Can you not kill them this time, Lusya?” Ariya asked.

Beldo nodded. “If anything, I want to help them. I doubt they signed up to end up in this sorry state. It’s obvious they didn’t really know what they were getting into.”

“Very well,” Lusya said. Their pitiful situation didn’t inspire any mercy in her, but it was all the same to her whether they lived or died. “I will spare them. Lunera”

She dashed past the mercenaries and cut the device apart with ease. When they belatedly turned to face her, she simply swept their legs out from under them, and none of them had the strength to stand. After a few futile attempts, they all lied still and silent save for the occasional pained, anguished groan.

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“Let us go,” Lusya said, taking and Ariya’s hand and walking back toward the village.

Ariya glanced back toward the mercenaries. “I know I said not to kill them, but is it really okay just to leave them like that?”

“For them, or for the village?” Beldo asked.

“Both, I guess.”

“They are not in serious danger as long as they do not stay there for long,” Lusya said. “If last time is any precedent, they should have the strength to move soon enough. As for the village, it is doubtful the mercenaries will take any hostile action toward it. They were hired to guard that device. I doubt they will be invested enough to seek reprisal.”

Some mercenaries might well seek to make up a perceived loss in revenue by sacking the village, but Lusya doubted that would be the case either. A nobleman had likely paid them well enough already, and there was little to be gained from such a small village. In any case, Lusya declined to mention the possibility to Ariya.

Beldo nodded. “Yeah, it should be fine. Even if they did try something, it would probably be before we leave, so Lusya could stop them.”

“Indeed.”

If the mercenaries did decide to attack, it was doubtful they would have the foresight to wait for Lusya and the others to leave. They did not necessarily know Lusya and the others were staying in the village to begin with. Even if the mercenaries did guess or find that out, they would likely chalk their loss up to their fatigued state rather than Lusya’s strength and foolishly attack the village thinking they could defeat her at their best. If that happened, she would simply kill them. And if they did wait until she was gone, that was unfortunate but no concern of hers.

“Anyway, now that that’s done, we should head back to town and find out what the villagers know about what happened here,” Beldo said.

“I agree,” Lusya said as she came to a stop. “However, before that, you will explain yourself. It is evident that you know more about what is occurring here than you initially indicated.”

He had maintained from the start that he had seen the phenomenon before and he had known about the device, but recent statements suggested he had seen it more than a few times, and that he knew more about the culprit than merely his name.

Beldo sighed. “All right, I guess I can tell you. I wasn’t hiding it or anything, I just wanted to be sure about some things.” He chuckled. “It’d be embarrassing if I gave this big explanation and it turned out to be wrong, right? That said, I’m still not completely sure about some things, but I can tell you what I’m thinking if you’re okay with that.”

Lusya nodded. “Go on.”

“Like I said before, the first time I saw this was little over twenty years ago,” Beldo said. “It was pretty much the same thing we’re seeing now: this stagnant mist of Malice and this device that seems to be gathering it.”

Said mist was already dissipating, much like before. If anything, it seemed to be thinning faster, perhaps as a sort of response to having been so dense to begin with. Regardless of how long the device or the mist had been here, she did not think the latter would take much longer to dissipate than it had in the previous village. How interesting.

“I won’t claim to know all the details about how he managed to do it,” Beldo continued, “but this nobleman figured out how to make these devices that gather Malice without allowing it to coalesce into a demon. It was another attempt at something mortals have always wanted to do: end the Demon King cycle, once and for all.”

Lusya supposed she could see how this device’s functions could theoretically be used for that purpose, if applied to the entire world.

“But, as you can see, it comes with its own problems, and let’s just say it can get a lot worse. Azure and Romoro were traveling through here right about that time, and they’re the ones who put a stop to the nobleman’s schemes. That nobleman was Count Rebran.”

Ariya frowned. “But Count Rebran is the one doing this now, right?” She gasped, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Oh, did he come back to life? That’s so cool!”

“I never said he died,” Beldo said.

“Azure’s nice, but I think she would have killed him,” Ariya said. “And the Demon King definitely would have. I bet he said something really cool while he was doing it too.”

“I am inclined to agree,” Lusya said.

Ariya beamed. “Right? Did your papa usually say cool things when he killed people?”

“I was not often present when he did so, but I believe so.”

“That’s so cool!”

Father had had a tendency to say some parting words before killing an opponent. Lusya was not sure if most people would consider them “cool,” but, in her experience and based on what she had heard from others, they had often been clever or biting.

Beldo’s brow furrowed in concern. Lusya was aware that Ariya’s enthusiasm about killing would normally be considered unsettling for her age, but it didn’t affect her Malice or cause any other problems of note, so Lusya had never seen any reason to correct it.

“I wouldn’t know,” Beldo said. “I wasn’t there. But, yes, they did kill him. I’m guessing the current Count Rebran is his son or another relative who inherited the title.”

Ariya blushed. “Oh. That makes sense. It’s not as cool, though.”

“Anyway,” he said, “as far as I know, the previous count never made any of his research or his development of these machines public. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he had some private notes or prototypes lying around that his successor could learn from.”

“I see,” Lusya said.

“And that’s all I know,” Beldo said. “I know some of it is conjecture, but it’s the best I can do. I wasn’t actually all that involved last time. I saw a few of the affected towns, crossed paths with Azure and Romoro a couple times, and mostly heard about what had happened afterwards.”

“It is a sufficient explanation for now,” Lusya said. “And your conjectures make sense based on the information provided. We can tentatively assume they are true for the time being.”

Granted, Beldo had provided no proof of any part of his story, but she saw no reason for him to deceive her. Her parents’ involvement did intrigue her, but she had been cooperating anyway, and a much simpler explanation could have satisfied her curiosity. Even if he was attempting to use her parents to keep her interest, the fact she intended to continue to travel with him and handle these incidents as they came across them made the point rather moot. It was possible he thought it would be enough to make her go out of her way to resolve the situation, but he was incorrect if that was the case. She was more interested now, but, in the end, her intentions had not changed. She would only tackle these incidents so long as they were along her path—and she was sure Beldo was endeavoring to make that the case anyway—and if doing so put her mission at risk, she would abandon it at once.

In any case, Beldo’s revelations hadn’t changed much in practical terms. His refusal to tell what he knew had put his trustworthiness in doubt, but his explanation satisfied her. Besides, she did not think he would invent what he had told her. She could not say he was not manipulative at all. He had manipulated her into getting involved with this situation to begin with, after all. But she did not think he would outright lie, especially not about something as important as Lusya’s parents.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” he said with a smile. “Can I assume we can proceed as we have been, then?”

Lusya nodded. “You can.”

“Then what do you say we get back to town?” he replied. “I have a feeling I know a lot of what we’re going to hear already, but it won’t hurt to ask around a little.”