Burning…

“Tch, just my damn luck…”

Muttering that, a large man dragged his feet along—Kadin.

Kadin kicked at the ground irritably.

The dirt his toe flicked up scattered, and sand rose in the air.

“Peh, peh! Damn it, rotten luck, all of it.”

Repeating his complaint with a rhetorical flourish, Kadin walked on with a bored look.

His entire body was smeared with sand, and bruises and cuts covered him everywhere.

“Shut up, unless you want to die?”

“Keh, at this rate I’d rather die than keep getting worked over like this!”

His eyes were blindfolded, and both arms were tied behind his back with rope.

That rope was held by none other than the “Sword Saint” Nadja, who had just finished thrashing Kadin and his men.

‘To think there’d be a Sword Saint in the village… I should’ve known something was off.’

When Kadin and the others woke after being beaten by the mysterious swordswoman, they found themselves in a strange facility on the edge of the village.

They weren’t bound there, and for some reason each had been given a plain wooden sword.

And ahead of them stood a demon glaring down, wooden sword in hand.

“I’ll beat your rotten natures straight.”

Told the woman’s name was Nadja, Kadin and the others had the fact she was a Sword Saint hammered into their bodies through merciless training.

Coughing blood as they endured her hellish drills, they were eventually blindfolded, their hands bound, and marched into the village—where they were taken one by one into holding facilities.

Kadin walked on as ordered, but already he felt no trace of his comrades nearby.

He figured he must be the last one left, and soon enough, his feet came to a stop.

“Get in.”

Inside, his blindfold was finally removed.

Though his arms were still tied, his legs were free to move.

After placing the bandits into their quarters, Nadja quickly left.

When her footsteps faded into the distance, Kadin began thoroughly searching the room.

A bucket for relieving oneself, a bed for sleeping, a table for meals.

All the necessities for living were there.

The room was spacious… overly spacious, in fact.

It was a proper house, if a bit shabby.

An extravagant place to give prisoners.

“You’re kidding me… no guards, really?”

He had expected death, but this was fortune.

If no one was watching, there had to be a chance to escape.

As a captured bandit, he had no idea what tomorrow might bring.

So slipping away quickly was clearly the best move.

Kadin carefully cracked open the door, checked that no one was outside, then swung it wide open and—

“W-what the hell…?”

He froze.

In front of the house stood a single tree.

Vines extended from it, stretched taut to encircle the house.

And those vines—were burning furiously.

“The tree… it’s burning… hot! Damn hot!”

Step too far outside, and sparks scorched his skin.

With the house surrounded like this, there was no way out.

“…Guess I’ll go back inside.”

Realizing he had been caught up in something beyond his control, Kadin silently returned indoors.

And the same scene was happening throughout the village.

The bandits, unable even to think of escape, stayed quietly in their houses…