The setting sun fell over White Brew Village, which sat on a gentle slope with mountains on three sides.
It was called a village, but at first glance, it looked more like a mountain stronghold. Stone walls had been built from the foot of the mountain, winding upward with the terrain, standing about ten feet high. Shards of porcelain and iron caltrops were embedded along the top, and two rough wooden arrow towers stood at the corners.
Two hundred years had passed since the Aurelian Dynasty's fall, and the remnants of humanity had been driven south of the Red Ridge Mountains.
Although the Empire had not exterminated humanity completely, the few newly risen human cities had still been built farther south, well away from the Empire's border.
A human village like White Brew Village, built near the Empire's frontier, could not count on some faraway major city to provide it with protection.
Villages without the ability to protect themselves had long since been trampled flat by all manner of beasts.
At that moment, aside from the militia responsible for keeping watch, a married couple was also waiting at the village gate.
The man stared silently at the forest below the mountain. The woman stood close beside him, twisting the corners of her apron with both hands, wiping away tears again and again.
As the sun slowly sank, the light in the man's eyes sank with it.
"Dad! Mom!"
That shout made the couple jolt.
A filthy little girl came running quickly out of the forest, with Link following behind her, his body stained with dark-red blood.
"Lia! Oh my god, my baby, you're finally back!" The woman rushed forward and hugged the girl tightly, frantically checking her arms and legs, then tenderly touching the scabbed wounds on her body.
"I'm