Two Monsters and a Song
Before I said anything else, I washed up roughly and followed Adelaide to the mess hall.
Back on that snowfield I'd decided to grab breakfast by eating Sabeltiger and Orsonero meat, but it hadn't been particularly good. Tough, jaw-aching stuff — like chewing rubber stuffed with meat juices.
Of course I'd eaten it diligently and filled my stomach. Just because something was hard to eat didn't mean I could skip a meal.
Honestly, until I heard about the royal army, I hadn't been sure of the outcome. After all, I'd taken down two monsters and then strolled back at a leisurely pace for half a day. If the royal army had bagged even one and returned, it would have been a close call — though I wasn't sure whether to call that lucky.
Thinking "lucky" when someone had gotten hurt felt pretty rotten, so I decided to just chalk it up to good fortune and move on.
The meal was, as Adelaide had said, Cervona meat with salad. Cervona were four-legged, hoofed Kelbus-type monsters that lived on this snowfield. Put simply, they were just oversized reindeer — though they were big enough that a bad kick from the hind legs could put you in the ground.
The meat was tender enough, though. You could taste the hardworking cook's skill in every bite.
I was spearing meat and vegetables with my fork when Adelaide spoke up.
"So you took down that Sabeltiger, then?"
I shook my head.
"…Not just that one."
"You caught two?"
Adelaide's face went blank with surprise.
"One would have been enough… You're not hurt anywhere?"
"Nah, I'm fine."
Even the hit I'd taken from the Sabeltiger had been manageable with some emergency treatment.
I smacked my lips and went on. A proper explanation of the situation seemed necessary. From taking down the Orsonero all the way through the Sabeltiger, I laid it out calmly.
I'd noticed it last time too — Adelaide loved stories like this. She had a real romantic streak for tales of hunters who refused to bow before towering walls.
I could understand that. Growing up in the royal palace, stories from a completely different world must have been fascinating to her.
After listening, Adelaide poked at her salad and said,
"So the Sabeltiger crashed the party."
The Sabeltiger's intrusion had been a variable brought on by the Snow Woman. Failing to respond properly had been my mistake. You could never afford to let your guard down around you — not ever.
Still, if I thought of it as a materials-gathering event, it put me in a better mood. Not that I'd gone crazy for monsters or anything.
While we were just talking, Pina zeroed in on the part I hadn't mentioned.
"Oh, right, Alice-nim. What was that nice sound we heard?"
Adelaide's interest was piqued.
"A nice sound?"
"It was kind of like… singing, maybe…"
"Singing. There shouldn't have been any other forces out there besides you lot."
I knew the truth, but I couldn't say everything. I had to stick to what was already out in the open.
"It was probably a monster's voice."
Adelaide stared at me with wide, astonished eyes.
"A monster that sings?"
Her attendant cut in without warning.
"How fascinating."
Adelaide looked even more startled than before as she turned to the attendant.
"Ah—! You startled me. When did you get here?"
"Your Highness…"
"I'm joking."
Was it really a joke? From where I sat, it looked more like a hasty cover-up. Adelaide genuinely seemed not to have noticed her attendant sitting right beside her.
The attendant lowered her head with a sad expression and went back to eating. Honestly, she had so little presence that even I'd forgotten she was there. Even her chewing was quiet. Maybe that was what a true attendant looked like.
Adelaide, looking a bit embarrassed, glanced at her attendant and cleared her throat a couple of times. Then she steered the conversation back on track.
"A monster's song, then. That 'Bigfoot' creature?"
The "Bigfoot" Adelaide meant was the yeti Neveumano — literally the Bigfoot of the snowfield.
It wasn't Neveumano.
I shrugged.
"The monsters that heard it went completely wild. The Sabeltiger came after me because of that sound."
Neveterde. A monster that used its voice to lure prey for the sluggish Neveumano. It clearly still hadn't found Neveumano and was wandering somewhere out there, searching desperately with that voice.
Adelaide let out a sigh.
"And a thing like that showed up… Truly fortunate. Taking down two monsters back-to-back — that's just like you. Remarkable."
She touched the corner of her mouth.
"But that Sabeltiger — I believe it's an Elder Species. Did you really catch the same one the royal army fought?"
"Probably."
I nodded.
"There were marks on it that looked like someone had made them. Nothing major, but still."
"So the royal army put up a fight as well."
Fighting the royal army hadn't been all that critical for the Sabeltiger. It had shoved me around just fine afterward and torn into the Orsonero's throat to feed. Still, I had no intention of criticizing them. They weren't hunters, and they'd done their best against an Elder Species Sabeltiger they'd never seen before.
I'd been worried about Sabertus, and instead we'd run into a straight upgrade of a monster. The fact that no one had died was the real luck. Coming back in one piece was what mattered.
"So, what about the general?"
"No word yet. But once he learns you returned safely, he'll be furious enough to die of it."
Adelaide chuckled. Was it really that satisfying? Well, she had gotten one over on General Gero, so I supposed she had every right to feel good about it.
"Two monsters. At this rate, the general will have nothing left to say."
Adelaide hummed to herself, then speared three stacked pieces of Cervona meat with her fork.
"This should make things a little easier for the hunters as well. Of course, until we've finished everything in Lacrima, everyone will still have a hard time of it."
Her words took a little of the wind out of the moment. Even if we won this wager, we'd still have to live and work side by side in Lacrima. What a pain. General Gero would still be here too. He'd probably interfere with every little thing. I could only hope he wasn't that kind of person.
"By the way, today's meal is truly delicious. So this is what Cervona meat tastes like. Eating such tender meat on a snowfield makes the flavor even richer… which is to say they put in a lot of seasoning. In that spirit, I believe I'll have another plate."
The attendant scolded her.
"Your Highness, aren't you eating a bit too much? The royal chef specifically told you to eat healthily, did he not?"
"Ah—! You startled me. You're still eating too?"
"……"
The attendant looked thoroughly dejected. Seeing her face, Adelaide scrambled to fix things.
"I'm joking! Joking…"
No matter how you looked at it, that was not a joke.
Poor thing.
The hunter had returned safely. The royal army had failed.
Which meant it was time for General Gero to make good on his word.
General Gero sat inside his tent with an expressionless face. He stared at the map, then furrowed his brow and pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Haa…"
His sigh rose as a white plume of breath.
"Frustrating."
Gero had not wanted the hunters to succeed. What he had wanted was a victory report from the knights and soldiers he had sent out.
Evan…
He wanted to reprimand Evan, but there was nothing more he could say to a wounded man. Who could have expected a monster like that to come out of the Frost Cave? Talk about rotten luck.
Gero stroked his beard, thinking.
"…But it hardly matters."
All he had to do was put the hunters back the way they were. The soldiers could keep acting exactly as they had been. A few more men would be pulled for outpost security and cooking duty, but that only meant a slight reduction in combat strength. The rest could keep exploring and find the "Bigfoot" before the hunters did.
With that settled, General Gero looked at the map again — the one showing the "Bigfoot" tracks his soldiers had already discovered.
"Information only matters if you share it."
Gero slipped the map inside his armor. Then he rose from his seat without a word. A thin smile crossed his face as he chuckled and stepped out of the tent.
"…Oh, General Gero."
As it happened, he ran into Adelaide right outside. Faced with her confident smile, Gero bowed his head with perfect composure.
"Your Highness. What brings you to my quarters?"
"I thought we might discuss how to deploy the hunters going forward."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. You've been in Lacrima far longer than I have, after all. Seeking your counsel would be the fastest route."
Adelaide disliked Gero as a person, but she held his abilities in high regard. He had been here since Lacrima was first built, so he would know this place inside and out.
At her words, Gero touched the corner of his mouth.
"Very well. Shall we step inside and discuss it?"
Gero nodded.
Angolo Outpost.
That dust-choked place had, after the battle with the supreme-grade monster, seen hunters and soldiers alike throw themselves into exploration without distinction. The wasteland they stood on was the future of Cartadia — the future of the royal capital, Sperita.
Why had the kingdom's future come to this?
Prince Melchior could not bear the question. He joined the expedition himself and set foot on the wasteland with his own boots. Biopia and the ten-captains had tried to stop him, but he went anyway. That was the kind of man Melchior was.
The first thing Melchior saw was Sperita's constellations. Looking up at the sky, he drifted into a daze. To see Sperita's beautiful winter stars again, here in this wasteland…
"So this is the truth…"
More than when he had merely heard about it from others, Melchior felt a hollow emptiness settle over him. Holding the drawing his younger sibling had made, he was freshly reminded that said sibling had absolutely no talent for art.
And then the weathered buildings — traces of where the people of Cartadia had once lived. Among the eroded letters, what faintly remained was unmistakably the language of his homeland, nothing else.
"Pitiful. How pitiful."
Melchior lowered his eyes. This was a future that had not yet arrived. If they uncovered every cause, they could surely change this future. What was pitiful was that, in this timeline, Cartadia had already fallen. Even if they changed the future, that fact would not change, would it?
Melchior ran his hand through the sand. The grains that trickled down made his chest ache with a distant sorrow.
"Your Highness. Your Highness."
Biopia called to him. Only then did Melchior straighten his bent knees and rise to his feet.
"Yes, Biopia. What is it?"
"…There's a somewhat serious matter. Would you hear it?"
Biopia asked carefully. It almost sounded like she was telling him to see it for himself. Melchior looked into her eyes. Those distinctive blue irises were flickering with unease.
"Is it dangerous?"
"No. It's just…"
Biopia seemed reluctant to speak. Her lips pressed shut. Melchior watched her for a moment, then nodded.
"Very well. I'll go see it myself."
"Yes. Then…"
The two of them walked under the escort of soldiers. No words passed between them along the way.
Is it really that serious?
Melchior wondered inwardly. Given Biopia's personality, she would normally try to needle him somehow. For her to be this solemn meant it truly was a grave matter this time. His mouth itched to ask, but he held back so as not to spoil the pleasure. If it turned out to be nothing, he fully intended to scold her.
"It's over there."
At the end of it, Melchior came face to face with a stone statue. The statue was unbroken, its form still clear and sharp.
Melchior's eyes went wide.
Because the figure of the statue was far, far too familiar…