I Became a Raid Boss

The young generation, untouched by war, and the players from another dimension couldn’t quite grasp the reality of it, but all across the Ardina Continent, the scars left by the Second Racial War remained evident.

Of course.

It had barely been fifty years since the war ended.

Even though direct fighting had significantly decreased towards the end of the long war due to the Holy Kingdom’s intervention and the fatigue of prolonged conflict, no one remembered that time fondly.

For this reason, apart from a few exceptions like the Holy Kingdom, there were hardly any people who liked the Demon Race.

The young man guarding the entrance of the moderately sized village of Katlan was one of them.

At exactly twenty years old, this young man had never experienced the racial war.

Nevertheless, he knew exactly how it had been, having heard the stories until he nearly had a wax buildup in his ears.

“Jack.”

Hearing his name called, the young man, Jack, sighed and turned around.

It was a familiar voice, but not exactly a welcome one.

“Hah… I told you it’s dangerous to come here.”

As expected, the person calling out to him was someone he well knew.

An elderly man leaning on a worn-out cane to assist his unsteady legs.

The elder, his hunched back tapping against itself, opened his eyes wide.

“What? Dangerous? Kid, I faced worse when I was young!”

“Hah…”

That was already the second time he sighed.

Jack could predict what the elder would say.

“Do you know how I got this leg? It’s the glory wound I got fighting desperately against the monsters that invaded the village!”

“Three days without sleep or whatever…”

“Back in my day? The demon race kept invading so much, I had to fight for three days without a moment’s rest!”

“Yes, yes. I get it. Just go back quickly.”

“These kids nowadays are just shivering in fear of a little monster… Tsk!”

He had heard those phrases countless times and could recite them all.

Hearing those words, one would think the elder had bravely fought against the demon race and monsters threatening the village.

However, Jack knew well that the elder was far from being a heroic warrior.

His leg was injured because he tripped over a rock while gathering herbs in the mountains when he was young.

Likewise, it was a lie that he hadn’t slept while fighting against the demon race.

Having heard the truth from other elders, Jack found the old man’s tales simply amusing.

Nevertheless, he didn’t point it out because he knew that despite his tall tales, the elder wasn’t a bad person.

“Here, eat this.”

Swish.

Thud.

The bread thrown by the elder followed a parabolic arc.

Jack easily caught it and grinned.

“You shouldn’t give me such things.”

“Just wet your mouth and thank me for it, kid.”

Guard duty was boring.

How could one not be bored standing all day at the village entrance just keeping watch?

Thus, while Jack had whined about the elder’s visit, he didn’t actually mind it all that much.

It wasn’t because he was given food.

“Anything happen?”

“In such a quiet village, what could happen? Maybe a lost monster will stumble in…”

“Hey! If you’re that relaxed, you’re asking for trouble!”

“Who said I’m relaxed? Just stating the obvious.”

Jack yawned broadly and half-heartedly responded to the elder’s words.

If he pretended not to listen at all, there would be even more nagging, so he turned his gaze outside the village.

It was for this reason that Jack could spot the unusual event.

“…Huh?”

“What? Is something wrong?”

“That… ah, can’t you see it?”

“…Are you bragging about your good eyesight now? Wow, you’re really full of yourself!”

“Hey, I was munching on bread, and you’re talking about… No, why are you even talking about poop while eating bread? You’ve ruined my appetite.”

Jack scrunched his face, feeling as if a foul smell rose from the bread.

Anyways.

Jack tucked away the leftover bread in his pocket and kept an eye outside.

If he wasn’t mistaken, someone was approaching the village.

“…Girl?”

Jack said with a puzzled frown.

It wasn’t rare for merchants or travelers to visit the village, but seeing a young girl wandering outside alone was quite unusual.

And she seemed unarmed, so it didn’t look like she was a mercenary seeking work.

“Jack.”

Could she be a kid who strayed away from the nearby merchant caravan?

“Jack.”

No, looking at her delicate features, she might be a runaway from some noble family.

“Jack!”

“Aiyah! You scared me!”

Lost in thoughts about the girl, Jack jolted back to reality at the piercing voice.

“Why are you shouting like that? Are you losing your mind?”

Trying to calm his startled heart, Jack asked grumpily.

‘Losing my mind? What’s up with you! Is a guard supposed to let their guard down like that? You kids nowadays…’ The elder probably would have scolded him like that.

But contrary to Jack’s expectations, the elder looked at him with an unusually serious expression.

“It’s because you’re losing your focus! But more importantly, this isn’t the time for that! Do you have a horn?”

“Huh? A horn? Of course, I have it—”

Jack, still confused, pulled out the horn he had hung at his waist.

Blowing the horn to warn others when danger approached the village was the guard’s job.

“Blow it now!”

“Y-yes?”

“Ugh, I’m so fed up with you, kid!”

The elder snatched the horn from Jack’s hands and blew it.

Bwee-ee-ee-!

A sharp sound rang through the village.

In an instant, the village fell into silence.

Bwee-ee-ee-!

Bwee-ee-ee-!

For a moment, in response to the elder’s speedily blown horn, sharp sounds burst forth from all corners of the village.

Whether the elder was losing his mind or it was a real emergency.

As Jack contemplated the elder’s sudden action, the balance tipped toward the latter.

Gripping his weapon tightly, Jack asked.

“So, what in the world is happening?”

“Can’t you see that?”

“A girl?”

“I don’t know if it’s a girl or what!”

Frustrated with Jack’s lack of understanding, the elder thumped his chest.

“No….”

Jack felt wronged in his own way.

How could he know what the elder meant when he hadn’t explained anything clearly?

“It’s the mana, the mana!”

“Mana?”

Only then did Jack finally notice the swirling dark mist around the girl.

Even having grown up relatively peacefully, Jack had seen monsters before.

So he was able to discern that the dark mist enveloping the girl was mana.

“…Demon?”

As Jack muttered that, the girl steadily approached the village.

Watching with a tension-filled gaze, Jack suddenly felt a hand gripping his nape, causing a strangled sound to escape him.

“If you have time to mutter, you should hurry up and run!”

“Cough, cough! …Huh? Run? Aren’t we supposed to block her?”

“You actually plan to stop that?”

Following the elder’s finger, Jack turned his gaze and immediately understood what the elder meant.

Surrounding the girl, the grass kissed by the dark mist was rapidly losing its vitality and drooping its head.

Even in a world painted in hues, the girl herself, like a freshly blooming flower, radiated a bright color against the darkness.

“You should just stop it yourself.”

“…Hmph, if I weren’t old, I could’ve sliced through it in one strike…”

The elder’s bravado shrank back again.

Jack’s momentarily inflated hopes collapsed too.

Of course.

Sighing, Jack hoisted the elder onto his back.

He would be caught in no time if he tried to escape with his weak legs.

“Hold on tight.”

“If I were just ten years younger….”

“There you go again! If you bite your tongue while saying that, it won’t be my responsibility! Just hold on tight!”

“…”

Noticing the elder had shut his mouth, Jack stomped down hard.

A few minutes later.

A complete silence enveloped the peaceful village of Katlan.

*

A girl walking aimlessly.

The girl had no destination in mind.

She simply moved toward wherever her feet took her.

So, her decision to head east was entirely by chance.

‘─────?’
‘──. ────.’
‘…──.’

“…”

Perhaps she felt instinctively that she should head east, but that wasn’t very important.

At least, it wasn’t important to those who got caught up in the girl’s actions.

When caught in a storm, most people pray to survive and may blame the storm for their plight, but few question why it came in the first place.

The same could be said for the girl’s presence.

Swish!

An arrow sliced through the air.

The sharply pointed arrow gleamed as it aimed for the girl’s life.

However, the girl was oblivious to the arrow hurtling toward her.

Even if she had noticed, how many people could avoid an arrow flying straight at them?

Either way, it was clear that if things continued like this, the girl would soon spew red blood and lose her life.

Had she been an ordinary girl as she appeared, that would indeed have been the case.

Just before the arrow reached her head, the black mist waved and surged like a tide.

Thud.

“?”

The arrow collided with the dark mist that stood firm like a solid wall, losing its strength and falling to the ground.

Even a dead branch thrown by the roadside wouldn’t fall more helplessly than that.

Aiming for her life was undoubtedly an act of enmity.

Though her life was suddenly threatened while just walking down the road, the girl blinked as if she hadn’t noticed.

And before such an oblivious girl, a figure appeared.

“…Captain. How did this happen?”

Eric asked with a voice filled with indescribable regret.

There was no reply.

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