Yeongju System

Polia stood watch.

In the dead of night.

She stood guard outside the door so Amel could sleep with a peaceful heart.

Back when she lived peacefully in her village, Polia had never quite understood why the members of the self-defense force had to stand watch in the guard tower for the village’s safety.

She had just vaguely accepted it as a matter of course, never thinking about it deeply.

It had been that way since before she was born, and it felt distant from her own life.

It was always someone else’s problem, and she never knew why they did it. She’d even complained a little every time her father left for his shift, but now she understood.

‘Amel is grateful to Keila.’

Keila.

She had stayed by Amel’s side while she was unconscious in Stillo Village.

Amel had been completely defenseless after fainting, and she was grateful that Keila had protected her. She still cared about it now.

Even after Amel had saved the village and given them money.

To Amel, neither saving the village nor the vast sum of money was more important than her own body not being defiled.

‘So we have to stand watch.’

She had discussed it with the other three and they had reached a conclusion.

They would protect Amel’s bed, even if they had to be stubborn about it.

If any bastards approached with lust for Amel’s body, they would dispose of them with their own hands so Amel would never have to lay eyes on them.

Amel was strong, so perhaps there was nothing to worry about, but does one avoid shit because they’re scared of it?

The desire to keep something so foul from Amel’s sight was immense.

‘Amel is so pure.’

Polia was naive.

In any case, that was why Polia stood with her nerves on edge before Amel’s door. She resolved not to let a single soul inside.

It was then.

Footsteps.

She could also hear faint voices.

“…Leila… wait… yes…”

“…to talk… trying to…”

This was Leila’s house.

Leila’s only family had been her father, but he had been murdered by the bandits.

Now, Leila was alone, and they were staying at her house.

Someone had come to visit Leila’s house and was talking with her about something.

“Are you saying you won’t listen to me, the Village Chief, Leila!!!”

The man, the Village Chief, shouted.

It seemed the Village Chief had arrived.

In a mountain village, the chief wields power comparable to a Lord.

Because of that, the atmosphere of a village can change drastically depending on who the chief is.

Leki’s village, Polia’s village, and Molly’s village had been lucky; their chiefs had ruled peacefully, but…

“I am the master of this village!! Even if you took the village back from the bandits, you should know that it was entirely thanks to my efforts that we were able to reduce the number of casualties!! Don’t you dare think you saved this village. As long as you’re in my village, you will follow my orders!!”

Leila said something, but her words were drowned out by the Chief’s.

The sound echoed throughout the house, and it seemed he was about to come up to the second floor, but Leila blocked his path, trying to stop him.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Leki and Molly.

They had woken up too.

They came out into the hallway and stood at the top of the stairs.

For now, Leila was blocking him, so they didn’t step in, but they were on edge, worried that Amel might wake up. Their indecision made their stance ambiguous.

Because he was the Village Chief.

The President of the village.

The Lord of a mountain village.

Having grown up in villages ruled by chiefs, they couldn’t figure out how they should handle a person of his station.

Even if this was the same chief who had sold Leila to the bandit leader, the vertical relationship they had known since birth was not easily shaken off.

It would be good if they had Amel’s judgment, but…

She seemed to be asleep, and they couldn’t wake her.

However,

“Village Chief!”

“Tsk, tsk. Are you saying you won’t listen to the Chief? This is not your place to interfere. Where is Amel?”

The Chief stood at the foot of the stairs.

“And who are you lot?”

“…”

“Are you trying to block my path? The path of the Village Chief? Servants of some wench named Amel are blocking my path?”

“Ahem.”

Leki stepped forward.

Leila, Polia, Molly, and Leki.

Of the four, she was the weakest, having not received Amel’s grace, but she was the one with the most initiative and the right to speak.

“Village Chief, it is troublesome for us if you act so willfully.”

“Step aside. I have something I must discuss with Amel. This is not your place to interfere. Will you not move?”

“Even for a Village Chief, this is no way to treat the person who liberated your village. I don’t know what gives you the confidence to act this way.”

Even with the Chief as their opponent, the girls had their limits.

“If you come up any further, we don’t know what will happen to you.”

They hadn’t known Amel for long, but because they knew so little, she was all the more mysterious, and they had come to revere her with a vague sense of awe.

Leki would do anything Amel wished, for she had brought her dead younger brother back to life.

They had let him get as far as the first floor because he was the chief, but coming up to the second floor, where Amel was, was beyond the scope of the consideration they had shown him.

Leila, standing behind the Chief, felt the same way.

Unbeknownst to the Chief, Leila’s eyes had grown sharp.

“…”

A chill ran down the Village Chief’s spine.

The women standing on the stairs were only glaring at him, but he instinctively felt that the quality of their gazes was different from that of naive girls who were simply upset they weren’t getting their way.

An icy stare.

He was intimidated, but…

The Chief, not realizing he was scared, pretended to save face.

“Call Amel.”

“Amel is sleeping. Please visit again tomorrow.”

“…This is an urgent matter. Tell her the Village Chief is here. The fact that some wench is sleeping can’t possibly be more important than my words.”

“It is.”

Leki was resolute.

Watching, Polia felt a strange chill at that single phrase, ‘It is.’ She didn’t know why it made her shiver.

The Chief faltered and said something to Leki, but he was already caught in Leki’s pace.

It should be fine to leave it to her now.

Polia turned back toward the door.

But as she did.

Click.

A sound came.

From inside the room.

“!!!!!”

Polia threw the door open.

No, she tried to.

She couldn’t open it.

Crackle.

[Electricity]…

Just as Polia’s body froze.

CRASH! The door was smashed open.

By what?

A person.

A person broke through the door and slammed deep into the opposite wall, torso first.

Amel walked out from the shattered doorway.

Thud.

Thud.

Though they were the steps of small feet, they pressed down heavily on Polia’s mind.

“Polia.”

“Yes…”

“…Never mind. I wasn’t expecting anything anyway.”

Ugh…

A wave of disappointment washed over her from Amel.

She had let her down.

Polia fell to her knees.

She bowed her head.

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine.”

Amel pressed a hand to her head.

Because she had a headache.

“It’s not like you’ve ever stood guard before, right? It’s natural you’d be careless. Your attention must have been drawn to the uninvited guest. What can you do.”

“…”

Polia gritted her teeth and pressed her bowed head all the way to the floor.

Amel looked down at her.

“…Well, if you want to stay like that, then stay like that until I get back.”

Amel walked past Polia and inserted herself between Leki and Molly.

The Village Chief saw Amel and shouted.

“So you were awake. If you knew I was here, you should have come running out at once! These wenches blocked my path and insulted me. I will not let this slide.”

“So?”

Amel knew that the man who had invaded her room had been with the Chief just moments before.

He had infiltrated her room as if trying to get there first, without the Chief’s knowledge.

She had been about to fall into a pleasant sleep, but then she’d seen his lust-filled eyes. It had ruined her mood. She had never felt so disgusted before.

She didn’t know what his relationship with the Chief was, but…

“Leila.”

“Yes!”

“Seize him.”

“Yes!!”

Leila subdued the Chief.

The Chief reflexively tried to strike Leila, but she dodged it as if it were nothing and slammed his face into the floor.

Amel pressed a hand to her head, her face looking as if she might be sick.

“And Leki. You take that guy and interrogate him. Find out his relationship with the Chief. Seeing as he came from the Chief’s house, he’s probably a bandit.”

“I understand… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. I didn’t expect enough from you to warrant an apology.”

“…”

Amel looked around at the doors.

She chose one of them.

And went back to sleep.

In the space Amel had left.

Leki’s eyes turned murderous.

“Molly.”

“…”

“Can you go to the Chief’s house and subdue everyone?”

“I’ll do it.”

Molly leaped down the stairs and left the house.

“Polia.”

“…”

“Get up and bring that guy over here.”

“…Right.”

Polia, who had been pressing her head to the floor, got up, pulled the man embedded in the wall—probably a bandit—out, and dragged him down the stairs.

Before Leki could say anything, Polia roughly grabbed the man’s hair and showed his face.

“This guy.”

“You know him?”

“He’s a bandit executive who was quarantined in the Chief’s house.”

“Did he just happen to show up when the Chief came? …No, that can’t be right.”

She was already certain.

He had something to do with the Chief.

He had been suspicious from the start.

The Chief claimed to have handled things well, but the village had suffered almost no damage.

Even with Leila being sold to the bandits, things had been resolved too easily.

Was it simply because the bandits who had occupied this village were easy to talk to? To explain it away with just that reason… there were too many suspicious points.

Still, she hadn’t bothered to doubt it.

Because the enemy was the bandits,

and the village was not the enemy.

It was different now.

This village was no longer a comrade who had shared the same pain.

Though it was night,

the village was in an uproar.

Leki woke the members of the self-defense force and explained the situation.

Enraged by the fact that harm had come to Amel, the members began a thorough search of the village for hidden bandits.

They carried out the search they had only half-finished because of the Chief.

And they discovered the truth. Of the bandits captured in the village square—no, of those they had thought were bandits—more than half were prisoners captured from other villages, and the rest were low-ranking bandits.

The real bandits were being hidden in the villagers’ homes.

Leki meticulously sorted out the bandits and gathered them in the village square.

The Village Chief was among them.

The Chief’s face glistened with panic, anxiety, and fear.

But he did not swallow his pride.

“D-don’t do this. Do you have any idea what you’re doing right now?! When the Guardian Deity returns, you’ll all be killed!!”

“That useless Guardian Deity who ran away when we actually needed it. Amel will punish it.”

Leki declared.

“Amel will decide whether you live or die. But cut off their ankles so they can’t escape.”

“You bastard!!!!”

“There are no exceptions.”

Ding.

A message appeared. An alarm sounded to coincide with Amel waking up.

[Hidden condition has been met.]

[You have been granted the qualification of Lord Candidate.]

“..?”