Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: A Promising Hero is Strange from the Seedling (4)
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"Sorry, but you don't look all that strong. With a spirit that can only yap at humans, what fun do you think I'd have?"
The spirit puffed up threateningly. The lantern light flickered, and a chill filled the room. The sight of the spirit shedding bloody tears was gruesome and eerie, but its loose tongue had dulled any fear.
[The village chief won't stop it. The magical beasts will keep attacking people. You might laugh it off now, but don't get comfortable. Those cast out from the Hermit's Land will devour your fancy house.]
"...."
My gaze inadvertently fell on the magical beast compendium I'd placed on the desk.
The Hermit's Land. It was a vast continent far removed from the human realms, a cursed place teeming with magical beasts and the demons who commanded them.
But there was a reason they were called hermits.
"The magical beasts hide beyond the continent. Only the brainless ones wander near the borders. Even those are dwindling because the Crown Prince leads purges against them. How could such beasts escape the Hermit's Land to threaten my home?"
I snorted. In the game's scenario, magical beasts were just props to inflate the protagonists' feats. They might seem scary up close, but they were destined to scatter like fallen leaves before the Crown Prince. No need for me to make a fuss.
[Do you know what the scariest thing in the world is?]
The spirit thrust its pale, ghastly face toward me. I squeezed my eyes shut and replied.
"Is your mug on the list by any chance?"
[The answer is human greed. You know magical beast byproducts fetch high prices, right? The village chief is greedy. He's deliberately luring beasts into the village.]
"Hmm...."
I leaned against the bed's headboard and closed my eyes briefly. It had struck me as odd that such a beast would suddenly appear in this rural village. Too grand for mere coincidence. That massive Veridis couldn't have just lost its way and wandered into human settlements.
Luring Veridis on purpose, then capturing it to profit from its parts.
Meat for food, hide for clothes or furniture, horns for luxury carvings. No resource was more productive.
"Even if the chief lured it, Pippin is the one selling the meat. If he's an accomplice, fine, but he doesn't look like a victim."
[Only the chief profits from the beasts Pippin risks his life to catch! Pippin gets pennies while being worked to death!]
"...Either way, something feels off."
If the chief or Pippin was trading magical beasts without permission from me, the territory's lord, that was a problem. Indeed, it was.
But a bigger issue loomed.
"This isn't in the game."
[Game? What are you talking about?]
I wrinkled my nose. I'd played the heroine's romance with hero Pippin hundreds of times. The bad end was Pippin dying on a beast purge; the happy one was their marriage.
Along the way, Pippin's backstory emerged. Kaku, the former mercenary captain, had taken in the orphan, fed and clothed him, then discovered his talent. A clichéd tale.
He built merits joining the Crown Prince's purges. Until then, the closest he'd seen to a beast was a horned rat pup.
Pippin himself said so in the game.
"Something's wrong."
I closed my eyes to sort my thoughts, then snapped them open. The spirit beside me nodded.
[Exactly. That old village chief is suspicious.]
"Events with magical beasts shouldn't happen this early."
I quickly reviewed possibilities. Pippin fabricating his past for the heroine, or things derailing after I entered Sierra's body.
No way to confirm now. Nor did I need to.
My decision was set anyway.
Before my head starts throbbing, deal with Pippin as soon as possible.
Beasts like the one today weren't something my current self could handle easily. True magical beasts—grotesque in form, ability, origin. Who knew when another would appear to interfere? If they kept showing up and Pippin's fame reached the capital? He'd become the hero in no time.
I had to make my move first.
"...Magical beasts appearing in the village unnaturally is definitely abnormal. As this land's lord, I can't overlook it."
I buttered up the spirit with smooth words.
This loose-lipped spirit likely knew the chief's secrets or Pippin's weaknesses. I placed my hand over the spirit's tattered skin glove. Feigning a kind expression.
"Tell me what you know. I'm no ordinary spirit mage. I'm Sierra Glutony, the Duke. I'm especially curious why you're worried about Pippin. He seemed awfully strong. Unless the chief is after his life or...."
That would be perfect.
Hiding my inner thought, I lowered my eyes. The spirit responded with a grotesque wail of "Uhuhuhu, uhehehehe."
[Save Pippin.]
"I'll do what I can."
Without actually saving him.
"Who are you?"
[My name is Phoibe. Pippin's only sister, clerk at Kaku's butcher shop, and victim murdered by the village chief.]
Bloody tears dripped from the spirit's eyes.
[The chief plans to feed people to the beasts for money.]
"Feed? Figuratively?"
[The mastermind is Sloth, the mercenary captain! He envies Kaku and wants to use him as beast bait. Pippin and the villagers too! The chief takes bribes and looks the other way!]
"Bait...."
[My body was discarded as beast food....]
"Ah, literal food.... Hmm...."
I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed deeply.
I hoped for something simpler, easier. Just inheritance disputes.... Or lesser crimes....
Old geezer, you're a bolder villain than I thought.
***
[The chief never liked our siblings or Kaku. He was dead set on tormenting us.]
One day, magical beasts began appearing in the village. At first, small ones no different from wild animals, then larger, more aggressive ones. In that tiny village, only Kaku, the ex-mercenary captain, could slay them. The chief refused to hire proper mercenaries, claiming no funds.
Kaku fought until his body was ragged, severing their breaths. Watching, Pippin offered to help hunt, swinging his blade. Now two hunters, but the work only worsened. Stronger, vicious beasts appeared daily.
Did Kaku and Pippin get rewards? Hardly.
Hides were seized by the village tanner—for free. He was the chief's nephew. They kept the meat, barely, but 90% of sales went to "village security funds." Only the chief and a few knew its use. Villagers clammed up to outsiders like Kaku and his ragtag siblings.
Yet Kaku never complained. Said it was natural to live there. He soothed the siblings with steady words of effort to belong.
[But the villagers deliberately screwed us over.]
A clear, quiet summer night. Needing to salt beast meat urgently, Pippin knocked over the salt barrel. Had to cure it before spoilage.
While Kaku and Pippin handled the meat, Phoibe went to the village edge for cleaning water.
Cicadas droned endlessly at the well, where no one should be. But a secret meeting was underway.
"The last beast trashed the meeting hall. Can't handle big ones anymore."
The grumbling voice was unmistakably the chief's. Phoibe froze approaching the well. She hid behind a tree, watching the chief and a man talk.
"Kaku's playing weak. Don't you know bigger beasts mean bigger money?"
"True. Now that dimwit Pippin's helping hunt...."
The chief stroked his beard with a sinister grin.
"One Kaku dying won't matter."
"A bit more effort, and the Garden Devil grows stronger. Needs sacrifices for that."
"Aren't we feeding it beast meat enough?"
"Beast meat isn't sufficient. Need to feed it beast hunters."
"...Kaku. You're saying offer Kaku as the Garden Devil's food?"
Phoibe clamped her mouth. Their talk was absurd. The beasts ravaging the village were the chief's doing. He planned to betray even Kaku, the village's savior.
Backing away to warn others, her shoulder was grabbed. A burly mercenary grinned from the dark.
Crunch! Thick hands crushed her throat. In her final memory, Phoibe saw the beast. From a plate-like shadow bulged a massive monster. It bared jagged teeth in a grin. Eyes gleamed under moonlight.
The beast spoke. It craved souls.
"Wait, hold on."
Plate shadow, bulging body, teeth, eyes.... And it talks? Phoibe's description matched a monster I knew.
None other than the Gate of Death.
"Hey, Phoibe. I think I know what that monster is."
The beast she described resembled my 'Gate of Death.' Maybe connected to this incident?
"Look at this."
[Hm? What?]
Drawing Phoibe's attention, I summoned the Gate of Death. Air warped before me, a round mass coalescing like heavy cigar smoke.
The Gate of Death emerged flat and round, floating lightly. I belatedly checked around and the window. No one watching my room antics.
Still, I closed the curtains tighter and leaned toward Phoibe.
"What do you think?"
[What am I looking at? This black plate?]
"Uh...."
The Gate of Death hid its usual abyssal maw, dormant and flat. Tapping it rang like striking steel. Phoibe eyed me quizzically.
Seems it needs a direct spirit summon to awaken. Summoning ant swarms indoors would be idiotic. Best I could manage: the Sugar Lord. Hand on the gate, I called.
"Spirit summon."
The black gate rippled, its repulsive, terrifying form slowly emerging.
At once, Phoibe freaked out.