Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Doppelganger Hunt
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After a thunderous roar swept through the air...
The knights let out gasps of admiration at the fact that not even a wisp of gun smoke was visible from the firearms.
"This thing... it's pretty impressive."
"The accuracy seems insane..."
"At this rate, soldiers might replace knights altogether, right?"
Having confirmed the prowess of this new weapon, the knights stared down at the guns in their hands in disbelief. Traditional firearms took ages to reload and fire, and their accuracy left much to be desired.
Truth be told, they had always felt uneasy using them against monsters. But this new weapon was different. No joke—this was a gun that even a child could wield to hunt monsters.
A change in weaponry would inevitably shift the balance of power. War itself would be transformed. As the Black Rose Knights marveled from all sides, Enri—who already knew the guns' power—ignored them and issued a command.
"Confirm kills."
"Ah, yes sir!"
"He said confirm kills!"
The knights dismounted and plunged their longswords into the necks of the goblins rolling on the ground. Meanwhile, one goblin that had been playing dead suddenly rolled away, dodging a knight's blade.
Kieeeek—! Letting out its signature shriek, it slammed into the knight with a body check before scampering into the forest.
The surrounding knights burst into laughter at the sight.
"Hey, Hayes, what the hell?"
"Idiot. You let that get away? I'd bite my tongue and kill myself if I were you."
"Shut up, damn it... I'll go grab it right now! Captain, permission to pursue!"
A mere goblin.
Even a farmer with no training could catch one with a farming tool—a low-level monster. The knight flushed with shame at having let it escape and even been shoved back, then charged into the forest after it.
No one worried as they watched him go. A fully armored knight on monster suppression duty could take on dozens of goblins without breaking a sweat. Even if traps awaited in the goblin's path, he wouldn't get hurt or killed.
Leaving Hayes to chase the goblin into the woods, the knights finished confirming kills on the downed goblins. When Hayes still hadn't returned despite it being time, they began to sense something off.
That's when Hayes stumbled back, his full plate armor splattered with blood.
It wasn't his blood.
"Damn goblin brat. Causing me all this trouble..."
"What, did you torture it again?"
"Torture? Call it 'education' to be civilized."
He'd simply made the goblin that dared bite him pay the price. Considering how hard it was to clean dried blood, it was a thoroughly idiotic and irrational act.
Yet no knight pointed it out. They vaguely understood his actions spoke for his rage.
As Enri prepared to signal departure now that everyone was gathered...
"—Damn goblin bastard, how far did you run...?"
Another Hayes emerged from the forest Hayes had just left.
...His armor was spotless, without a speck of dust.
"...Huh?"
"What the—Hayes, you—"
"Holy shit."
Shring—.
As the knights drew their swords one by one and backed away warily from the two Hayeses, Enri scratched the back of his head, looking annoyed.
There exists a being called a Doppelganger.
A monster that reads its victim's memories and transforms into the victim—or whatever the victim fears most.
Some call it a type of demon, others a ghost, and some think it's a primal spirit.
But in the end, it's just a monster.
"Whoa, it's exactly the same? Never thought I'd see a real one."
Enri grinned with amusement at the doppelganger—so rare it was said not to exist—and slung his arms around both Hayeses' shoulders.
Caught off guard by their captain's sudden arm-around-shoulder, both Hayeses tensed and swallowed hard. Even their swallows were perfectly synchronized.
"Come on, relax. Who's gonna eat you?"
"...R-Right?"
"One of you is gonna eat the other."
"..."
"It was a joke. Not funny?"
Enri drooped his head when his confident joke fell flat. Seeing this, the two Hayeses frantically waved their hands, sweating bullets.
"It was brilliant! Yes! Hilarious!"
"Really? I was thinking of doing stand-up if I hadn't become a knight..."
Enri stepped back after pinching their cheeks and checking vital signs failed to distinguish the doppelganger.
Of course. A monster that reads memories and uses them as its own could even erase its own recollection of being a doppelganger. Psychological probes were pointless.
Still, just in case, Enri glanced at his knights.
"Anyone close to Hayes? Ask questions only you two would know."
"I'll do it. Hey, Hayes. That time we were drinking and you tried hitting on that barmaid—"
As a close squadmate questioned them, Enri leaned against his horse, pondering how to identify a doppelganger with identical appearance and memories.
If they have the exact same looks and memories, how the hell do you tell them apart?
'...No clue.'
Prance—.
And then.
Horus's tail whipped Enri's arm as he stood there.
Enri looked at Horus questioningly and met his horse's gaze, receiving one clear signal.
—Do what you were going to do.
A true knight communes with his mount like conversation. After this silent exchange with Horus, enlightenment flashed through Enri's mind. He let out a gasp and stepped forward.
"Whoa, you even know that? Alright then..."
"...No, can you just kill me instead?"
"What're you saying? Prove your innocence!"
"Shut up, you bastard..."
"—You want me to kill you?"
Enri drew his sword upon seeing Hayes—overexposed by his friend and begging for death. As everyone panicked and tried to stop him...
Enri lunged faster than anyone, swinging at Hayes.
According to the great King Horomon...
There was a famous tale even commoners knew from that great king, judge, mage, prophet, and Christian.
Two women claimed a baby as theirs; he ordered it split in half to reveal the true mother.
Inspired, Enri realized: just cut them in half.
Split 'em, and the answer comes!
As his blade arced toward their necks—less than a millimeter away—one Hayes dissolved into black liquid and poured to the ground.
Enri halted his swing instantly and stabbed down at the revealed doppelganger.
Impaled, it dribbled black fluid from its mouth and muttered in disbelief.
—You mad bastard... killing your own kind... so casually...
"What're you babbling about."
Enri twisted his sword deeper and smirked.
"I was gonna stop."
The ancients were never wrong. Marveling at the king's wisdom transcending worlds, Enri offered a hand to the surviving Hayes.
Hayes, legs giving out and rolling on the ground, realized he lived and cautiously took the hand to stand.
"...Captain."
"Yeah?"
"You were really gonna stop, right?"
"..."
"Right? Hey? Answer me—"
Brushing off the whining Hayes, Enri pondered why two subordinates died to a doppelganger—a monster so rare few had seen one.
But...
To something this weak?
The doppelganger he'd slain wasn't strong enough to kill two knights, no matter how he thought about it.
What did that mean?
Simple.
"—There's more."
Enri's gaze turned to the forest.
Glaring as if at the monster coiled within.
A knight in pitch-black armor sat on a tree stump like a chair. No skin exposed, he leaned on his sword, lost in thought, motionless.
—Grrr...
An ogre spotted him, salivating, and crept closer. The knight hadn't noticed yet...
The ogre ambushed—but moments later, realized its head was rolling on the ground. It blinked in confusion.
It hadn't sensed the sword move or the blade pass its neck...
Just...
—Gur... gurgle...
The black rose emblem on the knight's armor burned into its fading eyes.