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Louis moved. At the same time, a shout burst out. Two barbarians who had sprinted straight to seize him fell into a bog. Even in this urgent situation, Louis did not run. The wetlands started from here on.

If you fell in even once, you would not survive.

Louis looked back. One barbarian was already in up to his waist.

‘It won’t be easy.’

The more you struggled in a bog, the more it pulled you in. It had the strength to drown an entire deer. A deer’s hind legs were stronger than a human’s. Even such a deer could not get out of a bog.

As Louis had expected, the two barbarians became unable to act. The man floundering at the very front was already in up to his chest. The barbarian chieftain arrived late. He had come at the sound of commotion, but things had gone more awry than he thought. Two of his tribesmen were entangled in the bog. One didn’t know what to do. The city’s governor was about to disappear to the other side of the bog.

The governor was young—younger than he had thought. Because of that, he hesitated for a moment, then shouted.

“What are you doing!!”

“Ch–Chief!”

“Shoot!”

“We tried, but it’s out of range.”

There was a considerable distance. But he himself could do it.

“Give it here!”

The chieftain snatched the bow from his subordinate and drew the bowstring. The string was pulled taut. The distance was far, but he was trained in the wild. He tracked the white glimmer moving in the darkness with precision. When the string was drawn to its limit, he released the arrow. With a ripping sound, it cut across the long distance in an instant.

Thud…!

Louis was hit in the shoulder. He did not scream, but he could not hold back a groan. He pitched forward, then braced himself on his forearm and got up at once.

‘…If I fall, I die….’

Louis began to walk in a half-crouch. Seeing that sight, the chieftain clicked his tongue.

‘Arrows are more useful than I thought. Chieftain Atila’s idea was right.’

Had he had a little more time to train with the bow, he would have struck Louis’s head in one shot. But for lack of skill, he only managed the shoulder. Louis was fleeing. The chieftain lowered the bow and moved.

“Follow me.”

Tracking bleeding prey was his specialty among specialties.

The chieftain smashed the head of a werewolf lunging at him. His dagger flashed out swiftly, and he followed by slashing the charging werewolf’s neck. The problem was their regeneration. Even wounded, the werewolf bit into the chieftain’s shoulder. The chieftain stabbed the werewolf over and over. No matter how great its regeneration, under such an assault there was no answer.

“…Ptooey.”

Blood-mixed spittle. The chieftain edged backward. Governor or not, survival came first. Werewolves lived in packs. If a few died, the scent of blood would draw the others this way. Knowing that well, the chieftain began to retreat. One of the ones he had brought was already sprawled on the ground in a miserable state.

Running, he found himself back at the first fork from before. The wetlands. Two of his tribesmen were stuck in the bog there. One was in grave condition—almost up to his neck. Within three minutes the mud would cover his nose and he would die. The second was only up to his waist. Cleverly, he had kept still.

“Ch–Chief!”

A barbarian who saw the wounded chieftain spoke. But the chieftain did not answer.

“H–help… glug…”

Mud entered the nose of the barbarian in the worst state. The other said,

“What happened…? Please help.”

The chieftain ignored them and ran on ahead. Werewolves were fast. Escaping the pursuit of such creatures with keen noses was difficult. For all he knew, the so-called governor was dead as well.

The most useful means of breaking pursuit was to feed the werewolves. The chieftain ran until he was completely out of the wetlands. In less than five minutes, a scream rang out.

Alone, he reached the place where the horses were tied. Other barbarians were gathered. Seeing the chieftain appear in the firelight, the barbarians stirred.

“What happened?”

“The governor is dead. We’ll aid Chieftain Atila as well.”

Judging by his experience, the chieftain was certain of the governor’s death.

At that time, Louis was in a crisis. It was fortunate he had met a werewolf at the very moment of life and death. A barbarian’s dagger had already hovered at his throat. Then, with a growl from around them, a werewolf charged in. The werewolf and the barbarian tumbled together, and Louis used the gap to run.

His narrow escape was brief; Louis became the werewolf’s prey as well. He had hardly gone any distance when he was faced with a cliff. A wolf’s howl came from behind. Below, a small river flowed. But the height was no joke. Because of recent rain, the water was swollen. Seeing the current, Louis thought:

‘Even if I jump, I’ll die.’

Louis looked back.

‘If I stay, I’ll die anyway.’

He was a bastard, but he was also the son of the Duke of the Pontina family. He could not be torn apart and eaten by a lowly beast. He went mad with the thought that he would rather throw himself into the water. The wolves charged. Just before they sank their teeth into him, Louis leapt down. With survival odds near zero, the image that rose in his mind was his mother’s face—one he could barely remember.

Splash!!

Injured Louis fell into the very midst of the current, and he did not surface. The werewolves peered below, then, unable to follow, let out a long howl.

Louis drifted in a cozy place. His mother’s embrace. The first thing his consciousness felt as it circled that warm place was a tickle. Louis tried to ignore the tickle and remain. But the alien sensation eventually prodded his awareness.

“………………..”

An enormous headache made his eyes crease on their own. The pain running through his leg and shoulder was not normal either. The world around him was crimson. A day had passed; the sun was setting. Seeing the world steeped in color, Louis let out a short laugh.

‘I… survived.’

The arrow that had been lodged in his shoulder was cleanly gone, who knew where. The wound was cleaner than expected. The bleeding had stopped. The swift current had treated Louis.

‘…What is this?’

Louis figured it was magic, but he had never learned magic. In that case, someone else must have been casting it.

“…Please save me.”

No matter how many times he called, no one answered. The place was quiet. There were no people, much less a mage. He had been chased at dawn, and now the sky was red—time had passed greatly. Louis thought of his city.

‘It must all be plundered.’

He did not know who the barbarian commander was, but the timing was exquisite. Had they attacked just two days later, the rotation troops of his elder brother Fred would have visited his city.

Louis sighed. Once again, the goddess of fortune had not helped him.

‘Did I lack offerings?’

Louis tried to get up, but he had no strength. Wiggling a toe was about all he could do. He needed to get to a safer place. Rather than forcing himself to move, waiting seemed the best policy.

‘What on earth is this?’

Louis looked in wonder at the message that had suddenly appeared to him.

‘It says to start the Civilization System? How am I supposed to start it?’

No matter how he searched, there was no start button. Louis tried focusing his mind as mages did. As expected, nothing changed. Maybe he just had to speak…?

“Start.”

A complex system interface unfolded before Louis’s eyes. Curious aside, he had no idea how to use it.

‘Leader…? What do they mean? I’m… the duke’s son….’

Louis’s thoughts lasted only a moment before the explanation began. He listened with full concentration.

By the time he finished listening, it was evening. Louis was in shock. If the explanation was true, this was a mysterious tool that helped one build a civilization.

There was no guarantee it would manifest yet, but for some reason he felt the effects would appear as described.

Basically, you gathered points, and by investing those points into different sections, you could summon special effects into the real world.

‘First… move my body.’

He had to survive here, if only to learn the truth. His body trembled, but it moved. Survival for the sake of living began now.