Beastman (2)
Preparations finished, we set out a step ahead of the Beast King's Fairies and his younger brother, making for the dungeon they were scheduled to clear.
"So how are you planning to take them, anyway? They've got a pretty serious force waiting outside. I don't see us handling this quietly."
Canisia asked as we moved. It was a party that included the Beast King's own brother, which meant a heavy escort — and a 5-star Master besides.
The cleanest play was to hit them from behind once they were inside the dungeon and already tangled up with the monsters. One problem, though: we couldn't go in first and set an ambush. The moment you entered a dungeon, a prompt displayed the number of people already inside. They'd know we were there instantly. Which meant waiting for them to go in first — except then the escort would be dug in right at the entrance.
"We avoid a fight with the escort. As much as we possibly can."
Whether the Beast King himself was the cautious type or the people around him were, the dungeon they'd been assigned sat close to Pista Castle. If someone with power ran all-out, they could be there in thirty minutes. If we wanted the news to reach the Beast King as late as possible, engaging the escort was out of the question.
"Then how do you plan to grab the bait?"
"I've got something in mind. No idea if it'll actually work."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"Well..."
I leaned in close and murmured the whole scheme to her, rapid and low. Canisia's expression went distinctly odd.
"And that's going to work?"
"Hell if I know. But I don't see a better option, so we try it. If you've got a smarter plan, I'm listening."
"Hrm... okay. Thinking about it again, yours is probably the best we've got."
After a moment's thought, Canisia gave me a thumbs-up. Yeah. I thought my plan was the best one too.
A column of some hundred people filed out of Pista Castle.
Carriages rolled in a line at the heart of the procession, and the one in the middle was large and lavishly appointed, a banner bearing the lion's head of the Beast King snapping from its post. Soldiers armed with spears and shields flanked it on both sides.
About two hours later, the column halted before a dungeon.
"Move it, move it!"
"Set up Lord Jericho's quarters first! Faster!"
Soldiers and laborers snapped into motion, raising a camp in front of the dungeon with practiced speed. The slightest thing out of place and Jericho would seize on it and throw a fit, so they had to move fast — and they had to move right.
Jericho was a weak Master, barely 3-star, but almost no one could say a word against him. He was the Beast King's own blood brother, after all — the younger sibling of Pista Castle's ruler.
While the soldiers and laborers rushed about, a man and a beautiful woman stepped down from the opulently decorated carriage. The stars of this so-called expedition: the Beast King's one and only younger brother, Jericho Toneo, and his Fairy, Telmuer.
Jericho looked around after disembarking. Then his face soured.
"There's too much dust."
"You wretches! How dare you force Master to breathe this filth! Pay for this crime with your lives!"
Steel hissed from a scabbard. Telmuer, who had been standing behind him like a proper escort, ripped her sword free and shouted. The soldiers and laborers, who had been moving as one, froze as a single body and stared at the two of them with startled eyes.
Killing intent rolling off her, Telmuer strode toward the nearest soldier.
"W-wait— huh? H-hold on—?!"
"Die!"
"Aaaagh?!"
The soldier backpedaled from the woman bearing down on him and went over onto the ground. Telmuer's eyes flashed. She sprang into the air and brought her blade down.
His head was a hair's breadth from leaving his shoulders.
"Haaah... she's giving me a headache again."
Fortunately, the soldier kept his neck.
"What do you think you're doing?! Rodica! Stand aside at once! That man and the rest of these humans are traitors who have offended Master's dignity!"
"Treason, my ass."
A woman had stepped into Telmuer's path. She hadn't just blocked the strike — she had caught the descending blade in her bare hand.
Her name was Rodica. A Fairy of the Beast King who ruled Pista Castle, and the commander of this expedition. She looked at the shrieking Telmuer the way one looks at a chore that has overstayed its welcome.
This particular brand of idiocy was not a first. Cleaning up after it wasn't either.
"I beg your pardon? Are you quite finished? You dare shield a traitor in front of me? Are you a traitor as well?!"
"...Hey."
At Telmuer's cry, Rodica's face went cold.
"Nh—!"
Rodica's anger dropped the temperature around them. Telmuer felt the chill crawl over her skin and flinched back a step.
"Every time I look at you, I come back to the same conclusion. Your biggest problem is that tongue."
"W-what did you just say?"
"You flap that fucking mouth of yours without a single thought in your head. It never once occurs to that shit-filled skull that a tongue run like a dog's can get cut out."
"You...! How dare you insult me!"
"Yeah. I'm fucking insulting you. Who do you think you are, deciding who's a traitor? You a judge? Or... are you my Master?"
"Th-that's..."
Telmuer closed her mouth. There was no warmth at all in the eyes looking at her, and that absence said the warning had not been a bluff.
"Haaah... what the hell am I even doing, babysitting a child."
Sensing that Telmuer's spine had folded, Rodica let out a breath and released the blade she'd been holding. She had caught a naked edge in her bare hand, and there wasn't so much as a scratch on her palm.
"Just stay put and guard Lord Jericho. That's your job, isn't it? Not pinning crimes on random people and trying to execute them."
Telmuer had nothing. Her fists trembled, the humiliation of being unable to answer written in every line of her. Rodica snorted at her and walked over to Jericho, who had been watching the whole thing from behind.
"My apologies, Lord Jericho. A brief disturbance. Is the dust still troubling you?"
"...No. I'm fine."
"I see. Understood. We'll be entering the dungeon shortly, so please ready yourself."
"We're going in already? At the very least we should rest off the travel—"
"You didn't walk here with the soldiers. You rode in a carriage so smooth you barely felt a bump. What travel fatigue? We'll be commencing the clear shortly, so consider yourself informed. You'll still be sleeping outside, so don't worry yourself over that."
Rodica finished explaining the schedule — or rather, announcing it — and turned on her heel. One of them had talked at the other until there was nothing left to say. The other hadn't managed a proper reply. The exchange made the pecking order between them painfully obvious.
There were not many people in Pista Castle who could speak to Jericho, the Beast King's own brother, that way. Rodica was one of the few. And the reason she could be that rude to him came down to a single fact: he was human.
They say power cannot be shared even between a father and a son. If a man will not divide it with his own child, why would brothers be any different? If anything, the fighting between siblings runs hotter than it does between father and son.
The Beast King was supporting this dungeon clear in the safest possible conditions for one reason only: to look like a generous older brother. A good image paid dividends when you dealt with other cities and the great merchant houses.
"I-I'm sorry, Master..."
"...Forget it. Don't forget today's humiliation. We'll get stronger — strong enough to take revenge on that bitch, and on my brother back at the castle."
"Yes! This Telmuer shall gladly lay down her life for you, Master!"
Hmph. Look at these idiots putting on a show, sucking up to each other. Pathetic.
Jericho and Telmuer had muttered it under the assumption no one could hear them. Rodica heard every word. Acquiring the Beastman class had sharpened her hearing to a frankly ridiculous degree.
A snort escaped her before she could stop it. The conversation was that absurd.
Jericho and Telmuer were playing the victims, but from where Rodica stood, Jericho was a wastrel through and through. A pathetic little fox who lived off his brother's power. Infinitely fierce toward anyone weaker than himself, and instantly small in front of anyone stronger — a textbook piece of trash who only knew how to punch down.
And Master still looks after a bastard like that, just because they share blood... He really is too merciful.
Rodica felt a genuine swell of emotion at her Master's generosity, the way he took care even of garbage like that. That it was image-making — a performance of the loving older brother — was not something a Fairy was ever going to lose sleep over.
"Amulie. Frivi. You ready?"
"What's there to get ready?"
"It's only C-rank. Not like it's a hard dungeon."
"Good. Then we go in now."
"Mm."
Rodica, commander of the expedition, led Amulie, Frivi, Jericho, and Telmuer into the C-rank dungeon Lightning-Struck City.
You have entered the C-Rank Dungeon: Lightning-Struck City.
Maximum Party Size: 5
Recommended Clear Level: Lv. 70
Maximum party size exceeded.
"Huh? The hell?"
"It says we exceeded the maximum party size?"
"...Ah, for fuck's sake."
Rodica's face crumpled at the windows floating in front of her.
This dungeon's maximum party size was five. They were exactly five. Nobody had followed them in.
Which meant the overflow warning could mean only one thing: someone had entered this dungeon ahead of them.
Before setting out, Rodica had checked the clear schedule. There had been no other booking for Lightning-Struck City. None.
"What in the..."
"Master! This is surely the work of traitors targeting you! We must leave the dungeon at once!"
"Hah... this bitch really does love the word traitor. She opens her mouth and that's the first thing that falls out."
Rodica let out a hollow laugh at what Telmuer was hissing to Jericho behind her. Jericho came up beside her.
"What is the meaning of this? This dungeon was scheduled for me to clear today."
"That's what I'd like to know. Not traitors, but some lunatics have apparently decided to clear it without authorization."
"...So we pull out, then?"
"I'm sorry, what kind of horseshit — what are you talking about? Of course we proceed with the clear."
"But the difficulty went up. And there are unknowns inside. We should bring more of the force from outside and—"
"Even with the difficulty raised, this won't be hard. We clear this dungeon as planned, and we run those balls-for-brains idiots out. Or we tear their throats out. Hey. The hell are you standing around for? Let's go."
"Mm."
"Okaaay~"
Rodica shrugged as if none of it mattered and started deeper into the dungeon. Jericho bit his lip at being dismissed so completely, but in the end he followed her.
This clear, too, was a chance he had begged and begged his older brother for, and only barely received. Jericho wanted to grow stronger than the Beast King, kill him, and take Pista Castle for himself. To do that, he needed to clear dungeons.
Jericho and Telmuer trailed after Rodica as she pulled away.
And a short while later, they came upon a group of people already in the middle of clearing the dungeon.