From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 28
From Serf to Swordmaster, Chapter 28
The air in the camp had gone colder than the blood the mules had spilled. Vivian's cold gaze bored into the knight and the mercenary who had stood watch. The two of them hung their heads like criminals.
"Did you fall asleep?"
The knight answered Vivian's question in a trembling voice.
"No, my lady. There was definitely... definitely no sign of anything."
"If you are lying to avoid responsibility, do not think the price will be light."
As Vivian's pressure mounted, Berak stepped forward and intervened.
"When I came outside first, they didn't look like they had just woken from dozing."
Vivian's gaze swept over Berak briefly, then returned to the front.
"Is that so. But the fact remains that the watch failed. Punishment will be discussed at the castle after the hunt is over. If you feel wronged, prove yourselves by earning merit in this hunt."
Vivian then turned to Kyle.
"I leave the discipline of your company members to you, Captain."
Kyle bowed his head silently in assent. In the heavy silence, Melphis clicked his tongue and spoke.
"I felt it during the day as well, but the beast is unbelievably cunning. It singled out our means of carrying supplies and killed them......."
The party's expressions darkened further. It was because they understood the implication in Melphis's words.
"The time we have left has just become much shorter. There's a limit to how much we can carry ourselves."
Kyle summed up the situation, then added:
"We may need to look for other prey on the return journey."
Vivian answered a beat later.
"Then I will ask. You are familiar with this land. Could you find prey of that size again on the way back?"
". . . I cannot guarantee it."
"Then we go on as we are. I cannot turn my back after being toyed with by our quarry."
Kyle objected immediately.
"But the creature's abilities are beyond imagination. If it can kill five mules while evading even a knight's senses . . ."
"Which is exactly why we must go."
Vivian cut him off sharply.
"The beast is skilled at ambush and cunning besides. What if it cut our supplies for some reason other than trying to widen the gap? If we turn our backs and retreat, it may start ambushing the exhausted rear of our column. Right now, withdrawing may actually be more dangerous."
Berak inwardly agreed with Vivian as well. Kyle was nodding too, so their opinions had effectively converged.
"Pack your loads with food and water first! We kill the beast as quickly as possible and return."
While everyone divided the supplies and shouldered their share, Berak loaded onto his own back the entire pile that one of the dead mules had carried.
Three huge leather waterskins, sacks of food, and iron cookware were stacked in layers. Berak's upper body swelled like a great boulder.
Shing.
After securing his pack, Berak drew the greatsword he normally carried on his back and held it in his hand.
Because reaching for the hilt behind his back had become impossible.
Everyone stared at the bizarre sight.
"I knew he was strong, but . . ."
"Is he trying to break his spine? He means to walk like that while holding a sword too."
Vivian came over as well.
"There is no need to overdo it. The best thing is not to slow down."
"I am confident I won't fall behind."
Berak took his first step. With a crunch, the hard ground sank beneath his foot, but his upper body did not waver in the slightest.
Vivian left behind the knights who could not close their gaping mouths and moved to the front.
". . . Fine. We move."
* * *
Thanks to Berak carrying so much of the load, the party did not slow down. If anything, the urgency of losing their supplies drove the knights and mercenaries harder.
It did not take long to pick up the beast's trail again.
The giant wolf tried to wear down the party by keeping a fixed distance, just as it had the day before. But this time Vivian's response was different.
"Close the distance even if it costs us stamina! Wear the beast down as much as it wears us down!"
Vivian's order changed the nature of the pursuit. The distance between the two sides stayed almost constant, but both were now moving far faster than the day before.
At some point, the beast running ahead suddenly vanished beyond a rocky path. At the same time, unfamiliar presences mingled into the air.
A pack of wolves appeared. They were not as large as the giant wolf, but every one of them was massive.
This time, none carried hobgoblin riders.
As if they had been waiting, the creatures surrounded the column and lunged.
They ignored the blades sinking into their bodies and focused only on biting down on ankles and refusing to let go.
'They're trying to delay us.'
Berak understood their intent and frowned.
"The beast is giving orders to its subordinates!"
Someone shouted. Berak had suspected as much, but seeing it happen confirmed his guess.
'Still, to have stripped away even their survival instinct . . .'
This went beyond mere dominance. Some unnatural power was at work.
"Damn it, if we lose the beast here, it's over!"
One knight shouted urgently.
"My lady, you must make a decision!"
Vivian bit her lip as she watched the giant wolf growing distant.
"Mercenaries, hold them here! Knights, drop your packs. From now on, full speed!"
Vivian turned to Kyle and Berak.
"Captain Kyle. Berak. I think I will need the help of both of you. Will you come with us?"
"Understood."
Thud.
Berak answered briefly and immediately dropped his pack. He readjusted the greatsword that had already cut down one wolf.
The party desperately pressed forward.
The target still slipped deftly between the rocky hills as if trying to widen the distance.
"This is as far as you go!"
Before long, a desolate clearing without so much as a crevice between the rocks opened before them.
The beast seemed to realize it could run no farther.
Rumble—
The beast turned its body as if sliding and faced the detached force.
「Grrrr—」
"This is insane."
Someone could not help swearing. Up close, the creature was absurdly huge.
Forepaws larger than a man. A muzzle so high they had to crane their necks just to look up at it.
「Grrraaah—!」
The giant wolf flashed its yellow eyes and roared, and dust and gravel rose all at once in its rough breath.
"It's coming!"
Claws the size of logs tore through the air and fell. In the storm-like wind pressure, the knights threw themselves in every direction and scattered.
Berak gritted his teeth.
The pressure was so intense that even the air rushing past made his skin sting.
While the knights slashed at the beast's ankles and drew its attention, Berak slipped into the blind spot of its massive body.
Crunch—!
He brought the greatsword down with all his strength, but the recoil from failing to bite deeply traveled up his wrists.
He might have opened a small wound beneath the black fur, but never before had one of his blows felt so meaningless.
Whoosh—!
Before he could even think, the wind pressure struck again.
Berak threw himself to the ground and rolled.
A single graze would have been enough to shatter his entire body.
One wrong movement, one wrong place to set his foot, and he would be dead on the spot.
'. . . With my strength, it's hard to inflict a fatal wound.'
His best option was to create the split-second opening the knights needed to land a decisive blow.
The conclusion came quickly, but it still left a bitter taste.
Even amid an unprecedented sense of crisis, the fact that he had to reach such a conclusion pricked Berak's pride.
But the knights' performance was undeniable.
From a distance, violent waves in the air were carving deep wounds across the beast's body.
Vivian's reckless charge was obvious at a glance, and unexpectedly, the captain was fighting with a sharpness that ranked among the best of the knights.
Just as the fierce exchange reached its peak, an eerie black mist suddenly rose from the wolf's entire body.
"......!"
The huge frame, instantly wrapped in mist, grew blurrier and then vanished as if erased from space.
The instant everyone froze at the bizarre sight, the beast appeared behind a knight at the rear of the formation as if overlapping with him.
A massive forepaw burst out of the black mist and struck the knight.
"Gah!"
The knight coughed up blood and tumbled away. Berak's eyes widened.
'So this is the ability that killed the mules yesterday!'
It felt only natural that they had been slaughtered helplessly.
It was a power that crossed even space while hiding its body.
Before long, black mist scattered around the surroundings, and the wolf vanished into it again.
"......."
Extreme tension hung over the battlefield: no one knew when or where the beast would appear next.
"It's a final struggle! It won't last long!"
Even Vivian's shout could not fully drive out the terror.
Instead, confusion spread through the knights and steadily worsened. The invisible threat gnawed at the party's nerves and began to break their formation.
But even in the midst of that, Berak alone calmly watched the situation.
'. . . I can see it.'
A kind of sight unique to Berak, different from his ordinary senses. His honed abilities were showing him a path through the crisis.
「Insight + 1」
「Insight + 1」
'The mist flows.'
The minute currents of black mist scattered across the battlefield formed a three-dimensional map in Berak's mind.
The mist formed the passages the beast had laid down to move through.
At the end of the mist, currents spiraled like a waterspout and converged on a single point. Its next target was Berak.
"Berak! Above!"
Kyle called his name urgently. But Berak did not dodge. No, there was no need to dodge.
'Now . . . !'
Berak hurled the greatsword with every ounce of his strength into the still-empty air.
Clang!
The spinning greatsword struck the empty air. At that exact moment, black mist burst from the spot and the wolf's muzzle materialized.
「Grrraaah—!」
Caught with its position exposed, the wolf let out a roar of pain. The greatsword struck it squarely in the muzzle, wrenching its head sideways and sending it crashing off balance to the ground.
"Now! Go for its neck!"
At Vivian's sharp cry, the knights leaped as one, seizing the decisive opening Berak had created.
Shunk!
Vivian's precise slash drove deep into the neck of the off-balance wolf, and the knights' concentrated barrage struck the beast directly.
「Grruuu . . .」
The staggering body slowly tilted.
Boom!
As the massive body crashed down in a cloud of dust, the nearby knights scattered to avoid being pinned beneath it.
When the dust cleared, the wolf lay motionless with its neck half twisted. Vivian strode toward it.
She turned her back to the corpse and raised her bloodied sword high.
"Behold! The proof of a great hunt lies at our feet!"
"Waaaaah—!"
Cheers erupted around them, then gradually died away when Vivian raised a hand.
"Then, Raphel! Tend to the wounded at once . . . !"
Something hurtled toward Vivian's back at terrifying speed while she was still giving orders.
Whooosh—!
It was the giant wolf's forepaw.
"......!"
Vivian barely managed to turn. Her pupils widened. She reflexively raised her sword, but the curved claws were already inches away.
Clang!
Instead of flesh being pierced, steel rang against claw. Berak had thrown himself in front of Vivian.
"Hrk!"
Even after angling the axe to bleed off the force, all Berak could do was deflect the strike slightly. Fortunately, that was just enough for it to miss. The wind from the passing claw whipped Vivian's hair upward.
Whoosh—
The axe was torn from even Berak's grip and sent spinning away. But he had already used the recoil to launch himself upward.
"Haaaah!"
Above the wolf's head as it tried to rise, Berak seized the hilt of the greatsword buried deep in its muzzle with both hands. He drove the blade in with all his strength, forcing it all the way into the still-convulsing beast's brain.
Booom—!
Another great cloud of dust rose. Beyond it, Berak gradually came into view, gasping as he pushed himself upright.
'It moved even with its neck half severed.'
The other wolves had charged like zombies too, but none had possessed such bizarre vitality. The pack leader was certainly on another level.
There was one reason Berak had been able to react before anyone else. He had seen the faint flow of the mist gathering once more over the fallen wolf's remains.
Vivian's eyes, the first to meet his, were still wide open. But she soon shook her head briefly and steadied her ragged breathing.
"Raphel! Check the wounded! Melphis! Pick out those who are unharmed and go support the mercenaries!"
As the knights scattered this way and that under her orders, the only ones left before the massive corpse were Vivian, Kyle, and Berak.
"You have helped me greatly again. I will make sure the mercenary company receives additional pay."
"I won't decline."
Kyle bowed his head lightly. Vivian immediately turned her gaze to Berak.
"And Berak, I owe you my life."
Vivian slowly removed her gauntlet and laid her hand on Berak's shoulder.
"I dislike conveying my intentions indirectly the way other nobles do. Berak, will you serve me? I swear I will give you every support needed to become the finest knight possible."
A sincere offer.
Berak calmly met Vivian's eyes.
His answer was already decided, after all.
"I'm sorry."
". . . A refusal. But remember that the seal I gave you is always valid. And that the debt I owe you still remains in full."
Then she bowed her head to Kyle.
"I apologize. The captain seemed to have noticed, so I wanted to make the offer myself. I felt I would regret it otherwise."
"I understand. Because it's Berak."
"Well, I had more or less expected it from watching him on the way here. You are fortunate to have such a loyal subordinate."
"It's a little different from loyalty, but . . ."
Kyle shrugged and left it at that.
Caught awkwardly between them, Berak idly rummaged through the wolf's corpse to shake off the awkwardness.
Then Berak's eyes sharpened. His abnormally keen eyesight caught a minute irregularity among the clumps of fur.
"Berak? What's wrong?"
Kyle asked in puzzlement, but Berak answered by roughly parting the wolf's fur with the tip of his dagger. When Kyle saw what was hidden beneath the hide, his expression twisted grimly as well.
A mark like a brand, stamped into the skin: an eye and a serpent tangled together.
It was the symbol of Oculus.
". . . The hands of the profane have touched this place."
Vivian swallowed a groan.
"A test subject . . . ?"
At Berak's question, Kyle shook his head.
"I don't know whether it's a monster they created or a magic beast they tried to tame. But the brand itself looks quite old. Perhaps they simply abandoned it and left."
Vivian glanced around as if trying to shake off the unpleasant feeling.
"We can't carry a corpse this large whole. I'll send people from the castle to investigate later. For now, we'll take only the head. It will serve as indisputable proof of what we accomplished."
Vivian put her sword to the ragged neck and severed the massive head.
"Impressive. Just loading this onto a wagon and parading it will make onlookers marvel at this hunt."
* * *
At the gateway village, they would pay compensation for the mules and retrieve the warhorses they had left there.
Then they would requisition a wagon in the nearest city and publicly announce that the "Lion's Rite" had been completed.
That had been Vivian's original plan. But it was blocked the moment they reached the gateway village.
Other knights bearing the lion crest had occupied the road. They far outnumbered Vivian's group, while her side was exhausted from the desperate fighting in the wasteland.
"Halt! A plague alert has been issued within the domain. All personnel who have come into contact with magic beasts are to disarm and proceed to the quarantine station!"
At the knight's overbearing shout, Vivian's eyes went cold.
"Tobain. Did my uncle send you? Or that second one?"
Even after Vivian's rebuke, the man leading the knights did not back down. Instead, the ominous creak of bowstrings being drawn behind him hung in the air.
"I do not know what you mean, my lady. I merely follow the lord's orders."
"You dare lie before me! Father would never intervene in the succession contest."
The man called Tobain only gave a light smile instead of an answer.
"And there was an order to arrest those lowly mercenaries behind you on suspicion of looting. Drop your swords!"
Vivian immediately turned to Kyle.
"It's a petty scheme to buy time and damage or erase my achievement. It seems we'll have to break through."
"Understood."
Kyle answered briefly, stepped forward, and asked,
"What has become of the mercenaries from our company?"
Tobain snorted.
"Heh, they're a pack that does nothing but loot anyway, aren't they? If they've committed crimes, they should pay for them."
Kyle's blue eyes flashed.
"You're going further and further over the line."
That was the moment.
Thunder of hooves—!
With the sound of hooves, a small cavalry force charged into the village. An unfamiliar emblem was emblazoned on the banners flapping wildly.
". . . House Kronval?"
Hearing Vivian's murmur, Berak swept his gaze over the surroundings. The situation was changing too quickly and chaotically for him to understand.
But at moments like this, the most reliable thing was always the weapon in his hand.
Berak half-drew the axe at his waist.