“Village! It’s a village!”

Seon-Hyeok cheered, seeing the smoke from rice cooking rising from far away. He was genuinely delighted, giving a bright smile that didn’t match his dust-covered face.

It had been a week since they left the fortress, and the ideal trip he had expected was nothing more than a fantasy. The trip was horribly uncomfortable, tedious, and repetitive.

All he had seen up to this point were barren plains and unidentifiable wild grass. The villages they had occasionally passed by were so desolate it was hard to find a place to rest. When they did manage to spend a night under a roof, they ended up leaving before dawn because of ravenous fleas and lice.

After that experience, Seon-Hyeok had opted to bypass subsequent villages. However, the one in front of them now was different. There seemed to be far more houses, and they seemed spacious enough to spend the night in.

“Let’s hurry! What are you waiting for?”

Seon-Hyeok urged Hansen on, as he had been lagging behind. Hansen grinned, showing his missing front teeth, and replied.

“Don’t make such a fuss. The people will get scared.”

Hearing Hansen’s words, Seon-Hyeok...