The Death Herald (1)
I received the letter from the young noblewoman while I was training at home.
─Knock knock knock!
“Letter delivery! Please open the door!”
I had been practicing the Absolute Celestial Domain─well, I couldn’t exactly destroy the house, so I was just spinning a windmill staff instead─when the deliveryman’s knocking made me stop my training.
Before opening the door, I checked the rune stone at the entrance. No reaction from the runes Veronica had set up. It was a rune-based intercom with the meticulous condition typical of rune magic: it only activated when someone harboring hostility or murderous intent approached the house. No reaction meant the deliveryman had no intention of harming us.
When I opened the door, a tired-looking young man was scratching his head.
“Letter delivery? You’ve been working hard since morning.”
“Ah, yes. Could you please sign here as the recipient? Also, the year-end tax notice has arrived, so please don’t forget about it.”
“Tax notice?”
Fucking hell, they really do run a systematic tax collection system here. It was a clear glimpse into exactly which group of people this world’s technological progress was designed around.
“But I don’t pay taxes.”
“Pardon?”
Take that, Sargadis-exclusive tax exemption certificate! Thanks to the tax waiver I received for subjugating the Dark Evolution Dark Unicorn, year-end taxes were completely canceled for me. Since it was issued on a household basis, Dana and Franc didn’t have to pay either. This was pure gold. How many silver coins was a year’s worth of taxes anyway?
“Have a good day.”
“Yes.”
As I saw the deliveryman off, I glanced at the birds perched on the nearby roadside trees. All familiar faces.
“Coo-coo-co─. (Hello─.)”
The pigeon that flapped its wings at me in greeting flew off after the deliveryman. It was tailing him to monitor whether he was suspicious or not. It had probably been secretly following him the whole way here too.
“The CCTV performance is solid, I’ll give it that.”
Not only those guys, but the cat-drone project led by Teresa as the boss had also gotten on track. In Sargadis, cats listened to what was said during the day, and pigeons listened at night.
Anyway, after reading the young noblewoman’s letter and calling the family over, Dana burst out laughing.
“Thanks to my husband, we don’t have to pay taxes. Praise our damn husband.”
“Heh heh heh. I doubt the lord ever imagined he’d lose taxes on three people just because of the exemption certificate he gave me.”
“Huh? Isn’t it four people?”
“……Franc. Are you talking about me? Hmm? You’re talking about me, aren’t you?”
Fighting, you illegally-staying German goddess. Our maid’s criminal record now includes tax evasion too. If Veronica ever gets dragged off as a slave, I might have to sell elixirs at a discount just to buy her back.
“Senior~? What did the young noblewoman say? Did she tell us to leave right away?”
Larilura, who had been staying home to reinforce the party’s combat strength, asked. I had told her not to feel burdened about staying at our house, but this girl had packed up all her belongings, decorated one of the spare rooms, and even paid rent with a straight face. It was strangely infuriating.
“Yeah. She covered the boat fare and travel expenses. She said we can pick it up at the bank.”
It was year-end, so the research funds from the academic world must have come through. I should check if any money had arrived.
Veronica leaned back against the sofa.
“It’s fortunate she didn’t provide transportation as well.”
“She probably gave us money because we have our own schedule. I need to let the lab staff know too.”
“Don’t your sister’s subordinates complain about her constantly going on business trips?”
“This bastard became a freelancer and already forgot what it was like being a lab slave. Isn’t the best boss one who’s never around?”
That made sense. My understanding gauge charged up to 400%.
“Besides, since it’s a trip sponsored by this district’s young noblewoman, she told me to hurry up and get it done.”
“Salarymen really are pathetic creatures.”
As long as Dana wasn’t badmouthing us, it was fine. After all, if a superior pays your salary on time and doesn’t bother you, there’s no reason to complain. If someone still bitches about it, the problem lies with them.
Franc muttered with a slightly worried expression.
“Let’s leave tomorrow at the latest. I’m worried about Miss Tirsi.”
I wholeheartedly agreed. If even the lord’s daughter couldn’t find her despite throwing money at the problem, it clearly wasn’t an ordinary situation.
And so, after two months of what could barely be called rest, we boarded a ship heading abroad once again.
The carriage heading to the southern coastal city of Britannia had been prepared by the young noblewoman. Just like the people of this world, the horses here came in two varieties: those with transcendent power and those without. The one she had called for was pulled by a horse that looked ridiculously strong, fitting for a noble.
Thanks to that, we reached the port in just two or three days. We immediately boarded a ship that was departing that very day and set foot in Gorgalia.
There were no particular problems along the way. Not in the carriage, and not on the ship.
‘Monsters tend to behave themselves in winter.’
The cold in Britannia was brutal unless you were a master like me. The cold itself was nothing compared to Korea, but cold-weather gear was ridiculously expensive. I knew that all too well from the hell I went through during the early days of living in this world. Fucking hell.
The monsters that moved during this season were either starving goblins that would die if they didn’t move, or ones with high resistance to the cold. Pathetic monsters like kobolds hibernated using the nutrients they had hoarded in autumn.
‘Conversely, the ones that are active in this season are that much stronger.’
While the probability of encountering monsters had decreased, the ones that remained were essentially boss monsters driven into a frenzy by lack of prey.
Fortunately, we reached Gorgalia without running into any such monsters. Meeting a monster during a sea voyage was as rare as a plane crash. If it happened often, how the hell were the people of this world supposed to survive?
Anyway, since it was already very late that night, we got our entry permits and went straight to sleep. The next morning, we went out to buy a map. We needed to find out where the Forest of the Holy Beast in Gorgalia was located.
“How much for the map?”
“Eight coppers.”
“No, you bastard, not a world map.”
“That’s what I said. Eight coppers.”
These rip-off artists. I hope a meteor falls on their shop. After screaming and grabbing each other by the collar, we managed to buy the map at half price.
Dana spread out the map and asked Veronica.
“Veronica. You don’t know the exact location, do you?”
“It cannot be distinguished on a human map. At the time, because of the curse, I traveled relying only on my feet and eyes.”
“As expected. Hmm. Then tell us about the surrounding scenery.”
“Well, right in front of the forest there was a river visible, and behind the meadow──”
“No, if that’s the case, then it’s probably this area──”
Our smart wives calmly debated back and forth before pinpointing the location.
Finding the place was good. The problem was that there were no carriages going to the nearby village.
It couldn’t be helped. Even on Earth, where infrastructure was well-developed, rural areas often lacked subways or buses. In this medieval fantasy world where the means of transportation were feet, horses, and carriages, that was all we could expect.
After thinking it over, we decided to leave it to the professionals. We asked one of the workers at the carriage station.
“Try riding with a peddler’s carriage. If your identities are solid and you pay well, there should be someone willing to take you.”
We accepted the suggestion from the bearded middle-aged man. Since direct carriages to rural villages were rare, we looked for one that could drop us off along the way.
Incidentally, the one who found the carriage was Larilura.
“Listen carefully. The basics of negotiation are seizing the initiative. Let’s start by having Dana reassure them with her identification, saying ‘I’m this kind of person.’”
“I already found a carriage?”
“What?”
While we were meticulously stacking our plans like Jenga, Larilura had already gone out and hailed a carriage like catching a taxi. As expected from the only sociable member in a party full of nerdy girls, a perverted old man, and a big-breasted timid scholar.
I nodded in admiration.
“Holy shit. As expected, those born in 2000 really are on another level.”
“Ahaha♡! Senior, did I do well?”
“Yeah. There there, good job. Our human capybara.”
“Capybara? What a cute name! What kind of animal is it?”
“A rodent.”
I got beaten up by the huffing Larilura while handing the advance payment to the peddler.
The peddler who agreed to take us was a young man who looked to be in his twenties or thirties. About the same age as me.
“Hahaha! It would be my pleasure to carry such beautiful ladies!”
“All three of them are my wives, so don’t get any ideas. Unless you want to have a life-or-death duel with me.”
“Fuck, for real? Life really is unfair.”
The man who would be our coachman for the next few days was initially excited about the beautiful passengers, but after my words, his mentality shattered and he went off to chat with his horse.
“Wait a minute? I didn’t particularly want to be looked at that way, but being treated as completely uninteresting from the start is a little annoying, you know?”
“Little lady. A decent adult doesn’t lust after children.”
“I’ll be an adult in just a few more days!!”
Larilura got worked up and argued back before burying herself in Veronica’s arms and starting to grumble. It was mostly complaints about how age was such a big deal.
Still, the peddler didn’t tell us to get off, and we were able to depart right after lunch that day.
Maybe because he was also of Britannian descent. The meal we ate before departure was something I didn’t even want to mention. Veronica, who had been boldly curious about everything, left food on her plate for the first time since meeting me.
Fucking hell, mint chunk pie? What kind of person came up with that dish? Some kind of fairy that destroys taste buds?
The peddler’s name was Victuar.
“You know, when you work as a peddler, conversation skills are pretty important, but the opportunities to talk decrease. In the end, I even end up having trivial chats with our Mercedes.”
“Mercedes?”
“That’s our horse’s name. Isn’t it cute?”
Looking at the large draft horse, I pondered just how far the word “cute” could stretch. Well, if someone called this cute, then even a perverted old man like me could be called cute.
─Clop, clop!!
The draft horse was as strong as its size suggested. Even while pulling the loaded carriage, it ran without hesitation. It made me wonder if its ancestors included an eight-legged horse.
The coachman, true to his word about not having many chances to talk while traveling, was incredibly chatty.
“I rarely get to speak in my hometown dialect. When I’m working, I have to speak Romanian all the time.”
“It’s been quite a while since I last used my hometown language too.”
“You’re from Kitai, right? Still, there are quite a few people from Kitai in Romania. I bought some talismans from them once, but─and I feel bad saying this─they weren’t much help! Hahaha!”
He was like a slightly talkative taxi driver. Since he was young, I didn’t feel any nostalgia, but the vibe was similar.
I looked at the scenery visible from the back of the carriage and said,
“The talismans weren’t helpful? Did you run into bandits or something?”
“Bandits would be better. The ones who rob in Romania often spare you if you hand over your luggage, and if you run well, you can escape. But monsters are a different story.”
“Monsters. Isn’t winter supposed to be okay?”
“Hahaha! That’s why I’m working through this cold.”
Victuar pulled his collar tighter, as if the cold wind was biting. It was indeed quite cold. I thought about offering to take over driving for a while, but honestly, the wind was leaking into the carriage too, so the cold inside wasn’t much better.
Once Franc sewed up the gaps in the carriage and I warmed the interior with Burning Hand, it became somewhat bearable.
“Well, what could happen in this weather? The monsters that come out in this cold must be starving too. Our Mercedes won’t get caught by them.”
Victuar showed a bit of pride in his horse, but I had a bad feeling about it. You know how in movies, whenever someone sets up foreshadowing like this, something always gets hooked? Movie directors don’t waste screen time on useless scenes. In this world where fate exists, maybe there really is no such thing as completely useless chatter.
─Twitch.
Franc suddenly perked up her ears and looked behind us. The wedding ring on her ring finger lit up like a security system activating.
“……Hoofbeats?”
At her murmur, I also turned my gaze to the horizon visible behind the carriage. The cargo carriage had only a cloth and roof covering it, like a military supply truck. Thanks to that, we could see the scenery behind us clearly.
And there, two black dots were racing toward us.
‘Horses?’
The two horses grew larger the more I blinked. The size that had been invisible without focusing mana quickly grew from the size of a grain of rice. It wasn’t bandits. There was no way bandits would have such swift steeds, and who would attack a carriage with only two people?
I unconsciously activated the Kenaz rune. Then Franc and I kicked off our seats and stood up.
“Victuar!! Increase the speed!!”
“Huh? Yes?!”
Without waiting for a reply, I grabbed the back end of the carriage. I concentrated mana into my eyes to check if I had seen wrong.
The horse running ahead was ordinary. On its back rode a woman with emerald-colored hair. Her seemingly kind face had wrinkles around the eyes, suggesting she was entering middle age, but she was clearly a beauty.
Honestly, up to that point, she would have just looked like a common traveler. If not for the fact that she was running as if her life depended on it, and that she was bleeding heavily from her arm.
The real problem was the creature chasing after her.
Half-human, half-beast. Man and horse as one.
Those expressions fit the horrifying existence perfectly. It didn’t look like a cool centaur at all. It was as if the muscular upper body of a man had been brutally grafted onto a horse’s back. In its two arms, it held an abnormally large scythe.
The creature, which looked like it had been stitched together from a horse and a human corpse, had its blackened muscle fibers covered with red leather. The skin stretched over the muscles was too small, flapping behind it like a flag.
Fuck. If that thing is a kind and gentle creature, I’ll fry my own hand.
“What the fuck!! What the hell is that?!”
─Snap!
Victuar must have checked the rear as well, because he urgently whipped the horse. I grabbed the carriage’s roof and climbed up on top of it.
“……Ugh?!”
The fleeing woman must have had a narrow field of vision, because she only noticed us when we were about a hundred meters away. She bit her lip and changed direction. It looked like she was trying to avoid getting us involved. From that small choice, I could roughly guess her personality.
But of course, suddenly changing direction while running at full speed would slow her down. The distance between her and the monster grew even shorter.
‘Even if we run from here, we’ll get caught soon.’
The carriage sped up, but there was no way a horse pulling a loaded cart could outrun those two who were running for their lives. The distance between us and them had been steadily closing from the start.
Whatever that monster was, after killing the fleeing woman, it would obviously come after us next! There was no reason to just sit here and watch like idiots.
I grabbed the wooden bracelet on my wrist and pulled it off.
─Shing!
The bracelet transformed into a mithril spear as I poured mana into it. Before coming to Gorgalia, I had invested the remaining core from the giant golem to engrave the Berkanan rune on the spear. It was mainly for portability.
“Take cover!! We will engage as well!!”
─Crunch!!
After shouting to the woman, I hurled the spear toward the black half-human, half-beast creature.