Neveumano
Having heard the full account from Evan, General Gero ordered him to rest and turned his attention to the map.
Circles marked its surface. Gero's finger hovered over the place Knight Minore had been assigned.
Minore's sector lay deep in the tundra — a snowfield buried under endless white.
General Gero rubbed his mouth.
Minore had been one of his better knights. Mild-mannered, but meticulous in his work — never a gap in his execution.
Could a man like that really be dead?
That only four soldiers had returned meant the remaining seven were still out there.
Was there any chance they might still come back alive?
Gero rubbed his eyes. His face was gaunt, the hollows beneath them sunken and shadowed.
He hadn't slept properly in a long time.
That feeling had been with him even before Adelaide arrived.
Not only because something could happen at any moment, but because of the terror that a monster on par with Disastro might be lurking somewhere in this land.
Gero scrubbed his dry face with both hands.
As the general charged with this territory, every death became his responsibility.
Adelaide might be here, but in the end the failure was his own.
How could he ever repay the deaths of Minore and the other seven? How could he wash away the blood of the Cartadian countrymen who had died exploring before them?
At the end of all of it stood the Great Foot.
Gero clenched his fist.
How powerful was this Great Foot?
If every soldier mobilized, could they even take it down?
Information was scarce. The hunters would be no better off.
Just what kind of monster was this Great Foot? Gero ground his teeth. His dry lips split against them at once, and blood welled up.
"General!"
"...Come in."
A soldier entered General Gero's tent.
It was a medic.
"The soldiers who collapsed have woken up!"
"...Is that so?"
They woke rather early.
General Gero rose from his seat.
"I'll go see them myself."
Gero believed this matter was finally entering its last stage.
He needed to hear the full details and pinpoint the Great Foot's location.
Following the medic, he came face to face with the soldiers under Minore's command.
Two of the four still hadn't woken. But the remaining two were more than enough to convey the situation.
"...Antonio. And Lorenzo."
The general remembered both their names.
"General, sir! Loyalty!"
"Loyalty!"
"Don't get up. Your bodies won't be in any condition for that yet."
The general pressed the two soldiers back down as they tried to rise and salute.
"...What happened?"
"......"
The two exchanged glances, as if deciding who should speak.
It was Lorenzo who stepped forward into that silence — the soldier who had stayed at Minore's side until the end.
"While we were searching for the Great Foot, a blizzard suddenly tore across the snowfield. Visibility dropped so low that searching became impossible, so we paired off and spread out, and then..."
"You were hunted."
"...Yes, sir. We tried to gather the scattered soldiers, but... it seems the others managed to run off on their own."
Lorenzo glared at Antonio.
Antonio flinched under that scorching look, let out a pained sound, and spoke to Gero.
"We—we ran into that monster too! It was a monster we could never defeat. At the very least the entire kingdom army would have to—"
"So you abandoned the rest of your unit and ran to save your own skins?!"
"Enough."
Gero cut through the rising tension and turned back to Lorenzo.
"I understand the situation. So — only four soldiers made it back?"
"...Those three somehow managed to run on their own. Knight Minore and I encountered the monster before we could meet anyone else. Knight Minore... told me to go back and report this to you, General. So I... I ran......!"
"No. You carried out Minore's orders well."
Gero spoke quietly.
"...Right. Do you remember what the monster looked like?"
Lorenzo dug through his memory and pulled out every detail of the creature.
It was covered head to toe in thick white fur, and its feet looked to be well over a meter long.
It stood on two legs, but the blizzard made it impossible to see anything above that. The gleaming eyes, though — those he would never forget.
"...It looked like a giant person."
"Hairy, blizzards, a giant person..."
Gero furrowed his brow.
Piecing all the information together, he thought of the yeti from the northern folk tales.
The yeti — Neveumano.
Gero pressed hard against his throbbing temples.
Lorenzo spoke to the agonizing general.
"Ah — Knight Minore is still out there. General, we have to go right away...! We have to go save Knight Minore!"
Gero lowered his head and let out a sigh.
He fretted with his hands for a moment, then rose from his seat.
"Do you know the location?"
"...Yes, sir! I do!"
"You won't be able to move immediately, so mark it on the map."
General Gero drew a map and pen from his coat.
"Y-yes, sir!"
"And as for the other three — the moment their treatment is finished, they will answer separately for the crime of desertion."
Antonio's mouth worked soundlessly before he hung his head low.
Lorenzo traced his memory and marked the precise location and path on the map Gero had handed him.
"Here, sir."
"...Good. Well done. Rest now."
On his way straight back to his own tent, General Gero summoned the remaining 10-captains.
10-captain Evan, who had returned from the search, was still asleep, and Minore's status was currently unknown — which left three of them in the unit.
The three knights, the 10-captains, gathered before Gero with their helmets on.
"The location of the Great Foot has been identified. Effective immediately, the Great Foot shall be designated as the yeti, Neveumano. True to that name, its form has been determined to be a hairy giant."
"...Neveumano, sir?"
"Yes."
Gero stroked his beard.
"You're aware that Minore engaged the creature and has yet to return."
"...Yes, sir."
"We cannot simply stand by. Six soldiers and one knight are missing. The monster has threatened our kingdom army — and by extension, it will threaten Cartadia. We must cut it down at the root before it relocates."
As he spoke, Gero produced the map.
"According to the surviving soldier's testimony, Neveumano is here. Prepare to depart at once."
"...Right now, sir?"
"If we take this thing down, Lacrima will know peace. We cannot go on living in fear of a single monster, forever chasing after it. And even setting that aside — we must find Minore and the soldiers."
The 10-captains nodded.
There was nothing wrong with General Gero's words. If they were still alive, they had to be rescued. If they were dead, their bodies had to be returned to the homeland so they could rest in their native soil.
One of the 10-captains asked.
"Then what about the hunters, sir?"
"This is the kingdom army's affair. It is the affair of comrades who have shared hardship and joy together. I have no intention of dragging hunters into it."
"Her Highness will certainly have something to say about that. And there's a Master Hunter here..."
"The Master Hunter is currently unable to move. Same reason as Evan."
"...Understood."
The 10-captains left the tent.
This was no longer exploration — it was a sortie. The entire kingdom army would have to gather to kill a single monster.
Gero sank into his chair, leaned back, and exhaled a long sigh.
An uneasy thought stirred within him.
The Master Hunter...
In making this decision, Gero's personal feelings about hunters had played no part.
No matter how much he disliked them, they were ultimately countrymen of the same nation.
The other hunters didn't seem likely to be of much help.
If free-spirited hunters were mixed into the cohesion the kingdom army had forged through repeated training, it would only muddy the waters.
But that Master Hunter — wouldn't things go a little more smoothly with her?
Deep down, Gero held a favorable view of Alice.
She had interfered with his plans, which was unfortunate, but if she came under the kingdom army's command she would be a hunter of considerable strength.
She had also brought meat and eased the soldiers' hardships.
Whatever the circumstances, it had been Alice who helped those three soldiers.
If not for Alice, Gero would have lost nine soldiers instead of six.
But there was no time to wait for Alice to wake.
The situation was urgent. They had to find Minore and the soldiers who might still be alive, and at the same time pursue Neveumano.
"......"
Gero rose from his seat.
He drank a glass of the beer he kept stored, then left the tent.
General Gero headed for the central brazier where Adelaide was.
"Your Highness."
"...Ah, General Gero. The kingdom army has suddenly grown quite busy — what's going on?"
"We plan to rescue Minore and the soldiers, and subjugate the Great Foot. We have obtained information on the Great Foot."
"What?"
Adelaide's eyes went wide with surprise.
"You're saying only the kingdom army is going on a mission like that?"
"Quite a few of the hunters are currently over by the coniferous forest, aren't they? We have no time. At least our soldiers are numerous here."
"Even so, leaving behind even the Master Hunter is..."
"That's why I've come to speak with you."
General Gero drew out the map he had kept hidden in his coat and showed it to Adelaide.
"...What is this map?"
"It was originally a map marking the traces of the Great Foot."
"You hid something like this from me. Well, looking at it now I understand. The creature never existed in the coniferous forest to begin with."
"......"
"So you deceived me from the start?"
Gero pressed his lips shut and nodded.
Adelaide stared at him with a hardened face.
"So why confess this now?"
"I want you to copy this map and deliver it to the Master Hunter the moment she wakes."
"That is not what I am asking. You hid this because you didn't want the hunters to know — so what is your true intent in doing this now?"
"...I cannot trust the other hunters. But a hunter who defeated Disastro at the Angolo Outpost has more than enough military value."
"You..."
Adelaide pressed her forehead hard.
"...I will address the punishment for this matter after everything is over. You were far too reckless."
"Understood."
"So be careful. I heard that even with all the preparations for Disastro, many were killed and wounded. The situation now is worse than before. If you judge it impossible, return at once."
Adelaide spoke with crisp clarity.
"Dying pointlessly is a greater crime than the one you have already committed."
"...Understood. I am grateful for Your Highness's mercy."
Gero bowed at the waist to Adelaide.