Chapter 8: The Border River and the Fallen Noble

The three warriors gave a final, respectful nod to Lacy before disappearing into the dense foliage, carrying the injured woman flawlessly using the pack-strap carry Kaguya had taught them.

With the immediate danger passed, the brothers and Lacy began their trek southward, deeper into the subcanopy biome, aiming for the nearest human settlement.

As they walked, Inori observed the changing flora, murmuring to Kaguya. “The biodiversity delta between the deep canopy and this understory is too sharp. There must be a geographical barrier preventing the apex predators of the primary zone from migrating here.”

“Agreed. An ecological quarantine,” Kaguya replied, adjusting his glasses.

Takuya listened to his brothers, then turned to their guide, shifting his vocabulary to be warm and straightforward. “Lacy, the forest we woke up in—the one with the giant trees—feels very different from these woods. Why don’t the giant monsters from over there come hunting over here?”

Lacy used his machete to clear a low-hanging vine. “You woke up in the Great Jungle. We are walking in the Zephyr Forest. The monsters don’t cross over because of the border river. More specifically, they don’t cross because of the Gatorix that live in it.”

“Gatorix?” Takuya asked. “What does that look like?”

“Like a massive log with jaws,” Lacy explained, his tone serious. “But it has six heavy legs, and the scales on its tail are laced with a deadly poison. The worst part is they can sink to the bottom of the river and sleep for a whole day without taking a single breath. Even the biggest beasts in the Great Jungle won’t risk drinking from those waters.”

Kaguya stopped walking for a fraction of a second. He looked at Takuya and Inori, his voice dropping into a rapid, clinical cadence. “The waterfall. The primate behavioral anomaly. They weren’t afraid of the drop; they were afraid of the aquatic apex predator.”

“We essentially jumped into a biological minefield,” Inori muttered, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck.

Kaguya turned back to Lacy, smoothing his expression into a friendly smile. “Lacy, yesterday a big group of monkeys chased us to a waterfall on that river. We jumped in to escape. But the monkeys stayed at the top. They wouldn’t jump after us.”

Lacy stopped and stared at the three brothers, his jaw slightly open. He let out a loud, disbelieving laugh. “You jumped into the border river? By the gods… you three are either blessed by the heavens or too foolish to die. If a Gatorix had been resting in that pool, you wouldn’t be here. It’s an absolute miracle you survived.”

“A blessing and a nightmare all at once,” Takuya sighed, running a hand through his hair. He looked around the Zephyr Forest. “If that’s the Great Jungle… what do we need to be careful of in this forest?”

“The Bunnymort,” Lacy warned immediately. “It looks like a white rabbit, but its back legs are built like grasshopper springs. A lot of folks who travel here for the first time think it looks like good eating. It’s not. Its teeth are venomous, and if you get its blood in your mouth or eyes, your throat swells shut.”

Inori and Kaguya exchanged a dark look. They had seen that exact creature just an hour before the wolf attack.

“Good to know,” Takuya said smoothly, though internally he was calculating the sheer volume of lethal toxins in this environment.

“Speaking of poisons,” Kaguya spoke up, keeping his voice light and curious. “Lacy, I am a healer. Are there any plants around here that people use to cure sickness or heal wounds?”

“I know a few flowers we use to stop itching, but I’m no healer,” Lacy shrugged. “You don’t need to worry, though. The towns have books about all the plants that work as medicine.”

Kaguya’s eyes suddenly shone with an intense, terrifying excitement. He turned to his brothers, speaking rapidly in their native tongue. “Written, codified medical literature. That implies a printing press, or at least dedicated scribes. The foundation for scientific peer review exists.”

“Settle down, Kaguya,” Takuya chuckled softly, before looking at the sky. The dappled sunlight was turning a deep, bruised purple. “Lacy, the sun is setting. We should make camp.”

“Agreed. I’ll get us dinner,” Lacy said, slipping off into the brush.

An hour later, as the brothers finished setting up a secure fire pit, Lacy returned with an impressive haul: three blue deer and one strange creature he called a “Blaze beaver.” The brothers stared at it in confusion. It had no buckteeth and a tail that looked more like a spiked club, but its fur was a vibrant, fiery red.

“That doesn’t resemble the anatomical structure of a castoroid in the slightest,” Kaguya whispered to Inori.

“Let it go,” Inori whispered back.

“It’s my absolute favorite meat,” Lacy grinned, tossing the blue deer to Kaguya to process while he began skinning the red creature himself. “You boys can have the deer.”

As the meat roasted over the fire, Takuya decided it was time to map the political landscape. He sat across from Lacy, handing him a canteen of boiled water.

“Lacy, since we lost our memories, we don’t even know where we are right now. What is the name of this country?” Takuya asked simply.

“We are in the Kingdom of Cynthia,” Lacy answered between bites of meat. “Ruled by King Aldric Hesworth. He’s a good man, they say. The Royal family name is Hesworth. The Crown Prince is Rowan, and there are three princesses—Victoria, Aria, and Leonie.”

Takuya filed the names away instantly in his mental vault. “And where are we heading right now?”

“A place called Dian Village,” Lacy pointed southward with a greasy finger. “Good people. They hunt, grow vegetables and fruit, and sell their goods to the nearest big settlement, Suebic Town. Suebic is the main market hub for three different villages in this area.”

“Do you know the name of the village leader in Dian?” Takuya asked.

“No, I never bothered to learn it,” Lacy shrugged.

“Thank you, Lacy. That helps us a lot,” Takuya smiled. But as he watched the large man eat, Takuya’s sharp eyes caught a few details. Despite his rugged clothes and massive frame, Lacy chewed with his mouth closed. When he spoke, he rarely used slang, and his enunciation of names and places was crisp and educated.

“Lacy,” Takuya started, keeping his tone incredibly soft and respectful. “You are a great warrior. But you speak very well, and you carry yourself differently than the other hunters we met. Were you born into the nomad life, or did you join them later?”

Lacy stopped chewing. He lowered his food, his eyes dropping to the dirt. The jovial atmosphere around the fire instantly evaporated.

“I am sorry,” Takuya quickly raised a hand. “I did not mean to ask a bad question. Please forget I asked.”

“No… it is okay,” Lacy sighed, his broad shoulders slumping. He looked up, the firelight catching a deep sadness in his eyes. “I wasn’t born a nomad. I was the son of a noble. My father was a lord of an outskirt town in a different country.”

The brothers went completely still, listening intently.

“My father was a good lord. When the town had a severe drought, and later a terrible flood, he opened our own family stores to feed the people,” Lacy’s voice grew tight. “But the town had a rich iron mine. A greedy Viscount from the capital wanted it. So, the Viscount spread lies. He told the villagers my father was stealing from them, hoarding gold, causing the drought with dark deals.”

Lacy swallowed hard. “The villagers… the very people my father fed… believed the lies. They formed a mob. They dragged my father, my mother, and my older brother out of our manor. They killed them. They put their heads on spikes at the town gates.”

Inori lowered his gaze, sickened. Kaguya’s face remained neutral, but his jaw clenched tightly.

“I survived only because I was out hunting in the woods that day,” Lacy whispered. “I ran. I kept running until I crossed the borders, found the nomad hunters, and joined them. I am happy here now. The forest doesn’t lie to you.”

“That is a terrible tragedy, Lacy,” Takuya said gently. “What happened to the villagers after you left?”

A bitter, humorless smile crossed Lacy’s face. “They learned the truth eventually. They realized the Viscount lied to them. He took over the iron mine and immediately doubled their taxes. The villagers regretted what they did to my family, so they tried to rebel against the Viscount.”

“Did they win?” Inori asked softly.

“No,” Lacy shook his head. “The Viscount brought in his private soldiers. He slaughtered the entire village in a single night. Every man, woman, and child. Then he burned the bodies and told the King that a pandemic disease had wiped the town out.”

“I am so sorry, Lacy,” Takuya said softly, his voice full of genuine empathy. “I am sorry I made you remember such dark things.”

“It’s alright, Takuya,” Lacy said, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile. “It was a long time ago. We survive, right?”

Takuya smiled back and nodded. But as Lacy turned away to finish his meal, the warmth vanished entirely from Takuya’s eyes, replaced by a cold, terrifyingly sharp calculation.

He seamlessly switched to his native tongue, speaking in a low, rapid whisper only his brothers could hear.

“A classic failure of decentralized governance,” Takuya analyzed coldly. “When a nation expands too far, the capital’s monitoring systems weaken. An outskirt town becomes a blind spot. The Viscount exploited the information asymmetry to manipulate the populace, execute a political rival, and monopolize a high-value resource, all while maintaining absolute plausible deniability with the central authority.”

“Human nature remains consistent regardless of the dimension,” Kaguya noted clinically. “Greed is a universal biological constant.”

“A weak system relies on the moral goodness of its lords,” Takuya’s eyes reflected the dancing flames of the fire. “But a flawless system anticipates human greed and builds policies that make corruption mathematically impossible. If King Aldric Hesworth cannot monitor his outskirts… then this Kingdom is politically fragile. And fragility is an opportunity.”

Lacy stood up, stretching his massive arms, oblivious to the high-level political autopsy happening across the fire. “I’ll take the first nightwatch,” the warrior announced in the common tongue. “You boys get some sleep. Tomorrow, we reach Dian Village.”

“Thank you, Lacy,” Takuya replied in simple, warm words. “We will rest well.”

The brothers lay down on their beds of leaves. Another day in the alien world had ended, but for Takuya, the real game was only just beginning.