The Sword Saint's Shadow
The guild master’s words carried genuine remorse. “I’m sorry for putting you in danger because of our incomplete information, but you’ve slain the guild’s biggest headache—the Blue Weevil itself… I don’t know how to express my gratitude and apology. It’s truly mortifying.”
The Blue Weevil with its iridescent scales had indeed been a named entity designated by the guild.
When Felix and Lucian returned with its severed head, the entire guild erupted in chaos.
While the guild’s information was never flawless, mistaking the extermination rank was not something that could simply be overlooked.
Monster ranks were vital information for exterminators—life-or-death stakes, after all.
If the guild supplied false information and exterminators suffered harm, not only its reputation but its very credibility would crumble.
Thus, the guild master bowing his head despite our minimal damage despite the wrong rank was entirely understandable.
Felix and Lucian, unfamiliar with the situation, were bewildered and at a loss.
Since it would be inconvenient for both sides, I decided to offer a little help.
“Please raise your head, Guild Master.”
“But, Count…”
“I understand your meaning, yet since the parties involved are unharmed, forcing an apology is unnecessary.”
The guild master hesitated briefly. When he saw that my words were reasonable, he finally lifted his head.
This man’s stubbornness never changed, even as he aged.
Afterward, we received the special compensation and information-leak reward prepared by the guild master, then enjoyed the banquet he had arranged.
Watching the guild master reserve an entire high-class restaurant in the royal capital for the day, we sensed how sincerely he regretted the incident.
“Hmph. Thank you for your care, but it’s a shame it’s less than what the princes received. If I had known, I would have joined the extermination.”
“They’re exterminators, so it’s only natural. You should build experience through monster extermination first.”
From a slightly distant table, Felix and Lucian chatted happily.
After the guild master’s intense reaction faded, the thrill of the hunt seemed to return.
This incident had allowed us to share our true intentions more honestly.
Though unintentional, I thought it was better than the original story, and I subtly stopped Miy from reaching for her wine glass.
“Want to get scolded?”
“…Brother, you drink while I do.”
“I’m used to it because of work.”
I hadn’t thought today would be fine, but I wanted to teach Miy properly once she reached adulthood.
Bad drinking habits were unforgivable, regardless of gender.
“Crystal is drinking?”
“She’s not my sister.”
“Wow, that stings, senior!”
What to do?
“Benjamin is right. It’s better to learn to drink after becoming an adult.”
With Caballa joining in, Miy finally dropped her resistance. When I had stopped her earlier, she had flinched and set her glass down—I would pretend I hadn’t seen.
But my big-brother authority was instantly shattered by the guild master’s words.
“If you consider when the Count first drank, trying to stop your sister isn’t unreasonable.”
“Eh? What did you just say!? It sounded like you dropped something extremely interesting!”
“The legendary warehouse-destroying Count’s story—would you like to hear it?”
“…Guild Master.”
Despite my gentle gaze, Crystal’s enthusiastic reaction, Miy and Caballa’s curious expressions, and the princes who had drawn closer to listen, the guild master was encouraged by their support and enthusiastically recounted my black history.
Half-defeated, I leaned back in my chair in surrender. The others enjoyed the banquet, using the guild master’s story of my black history as fuel.
While we were enjoying the pleasant moment, a commotion erupted outside the shop’s door. The next instant, the door exploded inward.
“Who’s there?!”
The guild master, who had been serving us and creating a good atmosphere, rose in fury at the unexpected interruption and strode toward the door, shouting.
What flew toward him were the guild staff who had been posted outside.
“You should educate your subordinates again.”
“You…!”
After smashing the head and hurling the guild staff aside, wiping the dust from his clothes, the uninvited guest stepped inside. His face was one I and the guild master knew far too well.
Familiar, no—irritating would be more accurate. That damn stalker.
“This is outrageous! Not only did you break in without permission, but you attacked the guild’s own staff!”
“I only bent to block you from entering. If you have complaints, feel free to discipline me however you like.”
Armed with the same excuse and shamelessness, the man immediately advanced on me. But the guild master stopped him.
“Step aside.”
“You told me to do whatever I wanted just now! If you have complaints, try stepping aside!”
I sighed and stood up. As a guild master who had long passed his prime and retired from the front lines, he simply could not handle this man.
“Enough. If you have business with me, speak to me.”
Annoyed that my pleasant time had been disturbed, I stepped forward. The man’s eyes finally shifted to the people behind me.
“…You disturbed us?”
“If you see, you don’t know?”
If it had been anyone else, the words might have sounded like mockery. But I had maintained a short yet bitter enmity with this man for some time, so I knew I was genuinely asking because I hadn’t considered that far.
This guy had only ever seen one thing at a time.
Replaying the process of what he had just done, [heard that Benjamin had returned]—[challenge to fight] was likely the only sequence possible.
He had no awareness that his actions constituted rudeness.
A thoroughly harmful individual in every way.
“Hmph.”
Unlike before, when he never realized his mistake, he had now thought belatedly. It seemed even this beast-like man was slowly developing a human heart.
Should I be happy about this?
“…21 matches, 10 wins, 11 losses.”
“What?”
“My record against you.”
“So?”
“Don’t run away after winning.”
The man who had only delivered one-sided remarks turned on his heel and left without another word.
That delusional battle maniac. I’ll kill him someday.
Once the intruder had departed, Caballa, Miy, Crystal, and the princes let out a collective sigh of relief.
If I were to describe the feeling they had just experienced, it would be like a massive cliff towering into the sky tilting toward them right in front.
“Haa… haa… haa… W-what is that monster…?”
It was not a level that could be expressed with mere “he’s strong.” He had a human form, yet something existed that could not be called human.
“Thanks to that bastard, the good party I had for a while turned into a mess.”
On the other hand, Benjamin, who had faced that monster head-on, casually returned to the table and ate with his hands while muttering.
The group’s eyes, who could not understand the situation in their common sense, naturally turned to the guild master.
Though not as drenched in sweat as them, the guild master briefly explained the intruder’s identity.
“Sword Saint Richard Fitzroy.”
The name of the S-rank exterminator and adventurer who always appears when discussing the continent’s strongest.
The explanation was sufficient.
“Ah, this.”
Richard, who had been riding outside the royal capital to loosen his half-burned body after failing to have the fight he wanted, reined in his horse and looked back.
It had been a fight, yet he was supposed to tell me something but had forgotten and simply left.
“Hmm.”
After a moment of thought, Richard decided returning to the royal capital was troublesome and continued in the original direction without hesitation.
After all, what he had discovered was not the thing Benjamin had been desperately seeking across the continent, but merely a clue that might lead to it.
Thus, he judged it was not particularly important and decided to tell him next time if he remembered.
He, who created countless legends wherever he went, set off for a new adventure.
After completing the request and returning, I had been feeling pleasantly at ease for the past few days.
Thanks to the princes who had grown closer, the original work’s second chapter story had concluded without major trouble, and the records needed for revival activities could be covered for a while with this incident.
At first, even coming was a hassle, but once I got used to it, it became somewhat comfortable. Was this what they called adapting animals for people?
However, from yesterday to today, there was one thing that had been bothering me.
To confirm its identity, I called Peter over with a gesture.
“What is it?”
“That’s what I want to ask you. What is Crystal doing?”
“Ah…”
Crystal, who would usually chatter annoyingly from the side or ask me for troublesome tasks when I was in trouble, had been invisible for some time now.
If she had been romancing the capture targets like the original protagonist, I would have been relieved. But since it was now the end of chapter 2, the thing that would appear in chapter 3 was likely.
As expected, Peter showed a clear reaction that something was wrong and trailed off.
“It seems my body hasn’t been feeling well lately…”
“If you keep lying, I’ll tell you that your body will get worse first.”
“…It seems a bill has arrived.”
“A bill?”
When I asked pretending not to know, the beginning of chapter 3 flowed from Peter’s mouth.
A massive debt collection bill had arrived in front of Crystal.
Like me, she had lost her parents when she was young and been raised by relatives. The relative had borrowed a huge sum using Crystal as collateral, gone bankrupt, and fled.
“Do you have any idea where he ran away to?”
“No. It’s family, after all. Since Crystal and those guys had a worse relationship than others.”
That part was no different from the original work.
The amount the relatives had borrowed was an impossible sum for even Crystal, who could comfortably cover her and Peter’s tuition fees, to repay in a normal way.
In the game, the solution varied depending on the route.
If you chose the noble or commoner faction route, you solved it through extermination requests. If you chose the royal faction route, you repaid the debt but solved other problems instead.
If you failed to repay within the deadline, Crystal would be sold to the red-light district, give up, and trigger a bad ending.
“So what is Crystal doing now… No, never mind. Just go and call her. If she doesn’t come, tell her I’ll go catch her.”
“Eh?”
“Do I have to say it twice?”
“Ah, no!”
Peter rushed out with a face of surprise. A moment later, he returned with Crystal, who looked bewildered.
I handed her the check bearing my seal and said, “Interest-free, no collateral, indefinite.”
I won. End of Chapter 3.