Today was no different from any other. After waking up, Enri went to the well to carry water.
After filling her buckets at the well, she would need three trips to fill the house's water tank.
"Yosh~"
Enri rolled up her sleeves, exposing her untanned skin, which was pale and stood out. Long years of farm life ensured that although her arms looked slender and frail, they were actually very strong, with just a hint of muscle on them.
The filled buckets were very heavy, but Enri hoisted them up like she always did.
If the buckets were bigger, I could make fewer trips, wouldn't that make things easier? Then again, if the buckets were bigger, I probably wouldn't be able to lift them…
As Enri thought about that issue on her way back home, she heard a sound and turned to look at it. There was tension in the air over there, and the seeds of fear began sprouting in her heart.
Her ears seemed to pick up something like wood being broken, and after that—
"A scream—?"
It sounded like a strangled bird, but there was no way it could be a bird's call.
A chill ran down Enri's spine. Unbelievable. There must be some kind of mistake. It couldn't be a human's voice. She tried to erase her unease with these thoughts, and then they vanished.
She had to run to the source of the scream, because it was coming from the direction of her home.
Enri cast aside the water buckets. She could not run while carrying that heavy burden.
Although she nearly tripped over her long skirt, she managed to keep her balance by some stroke of luck.
The sound rang through the air once more.
Enri's heart lurched in her chest.
There was no mistake about it — it was a human scream.
She ran, and ran, and ran.
Enri could not recall going faster than this in her life. She was running so fast that her legs were about to tangle each other up.
The neighs of horses. The screams of people, and shouts.
These sounds were becoming clearer and clearer.
In the distance, Enri could see an unfamiliar man in armor swinging his sword at a villager.
The villager collapsed to the ground with a howl of pain, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and a swift thrust from the sword dealt him a fatal blow.
"Morga-san…"
There were no strangers in a small village like this. Everyone was as close as kin. As such, Enri knew exactly who had been killed before her eyes.