The Last Request
"Heek—! With this many people, it's a bit..."
"...Hmm."
I reached the carriage assembly point in Leria Village and spoke with the coachman. Instead of wearing ourselves out by walking, I had decided it would be better to reach our destination quickly by carriage. The coachman's sour expression told me everything—with our group's considerable size, ferrying all of us looked like it might be more than he could comfortably handle. Yet there were plenty of empty carriages lined up behind him.
"What are those empty carriages back there for?"
"Uh... ahem. Even so, Death's Canyon is a bit..."
When I pointed toward the carriages in the rear, the coachman broke into a cold sweat and mumbled evasively. The rumors surrounding Death's Canyon were so terrible that he clearly felt reluctant to take us there.
"Very well. In that case, I'll pay double the original fare."
"D-double, you say?! Ah... no... even then..."
At the mention of double payment, the coachman's eyes widened, his pupils spinning as he mentally ran the numbers.
"Ahem... Even so, Death's Canyon is..."
"Triple."
"Uh... uhh..."
"I'll make it four times the fare."
"...We'll depart immediately! Please, get on right away!!"
The moment I offered quadruple the original price, the coachman leaped into the air with excitement and frantically began preparing the carriages.
Things aren't any different here, either.
If something cannot be solved with money, ask yourself once more whether you simply haven't offered enough.
A short while later, the coachman brought out three carriages with horses already harnessed, and summoned other drivers who took their seats on each one.
"Good. Everyone, board the carriages. From here on, we head straight for Death's Canyon at full speed."
"Three whole carriages...? Commander... even so..."
When I gathered the group and gestured toward the carriages, Hans looked bewildered as he spoke up. I knew what was on his mind. Carriage fares were expensive, and he worried about the burden. Back when the new Ska Mercenary Group had first been founded, we had lived in relative poverty. We ate at cheap local eateries, our equipment was second-rate, and for requests requiring long travel, we usually walked rather than rode. Having grown accustomed to that lifestyle, his reaction was only natural.
But we have money now. An incredible amount of it.
"It's fine. At this point, we have enough coin to purchase every carriage here and still have plenty left over."
"Ah. That's right... Alright, everyone! Let's get on quickly!"
Hans must have simply become too used to those days of hardship. After a brief pause, his expression cleared as if he'd suddenly remembered exactly how much wealth we had amassed. He promptly boarded one of the carriages along with the rest of the mercenaries.
"Uh, sir... that's the passenger seat beside the driver..."
"I know. The road will be lonely, so I'll keep you company and chat awhile."
"Ahaha! Thank you for your kindness!"
After confirming everyone was evenly distributed among the carriages, I took the assistant seat at the front of the lead carriage. The only spot left was inside the one Cerise had boarded, which felt somewhat awkward. Besides, watching the scenery from the open assistant seat seemed far preferable to staring at the inside of a closed carriage.
"Departing! Hyah~!"
Slap—Hiiing—!
The coachman beside me shouted loud enough for the rear carriages to hear, then cracked his whip. The horses neighed and surged forward, hooves thundering against the ground.
"........."
I watched Leria Village shrink rapidly into the distance. There would probably be no reason to return. Farewell.
"Have you heard the recent news that those beastkin savages are rampaging again...? Sigh... We ought to round them all up and exterminate the lot."
"....Is that so."
Several hours had passed since we began our journey. Whenever the road grew quiet, I conversed with the coachman.
"In the old days we would have simply wiped them all out. His Majesty the Emperor seems rather peculiar about it. Hehe..."
Beastkin. In this world, a race known as beastkin existed. They were exactly as depicted in various stories—humans possessing animal traits. Cat ears on an otherwise ordinary person, paws instead of hands and feet... that sort of thing. For reference, they were not the suspiciously popular variety. Those were animals given human features. In any case.
It was said that long ago, beastkin and humans had coexisted across the continent. A perfectly ordinary era in which neither race discriminated against the other.
Then the Beast King appeared.
Stronger than any beastkin before him and possessing unmatched leadership, he became the center of a massive organization. As if enchanted, beastkin began abandoning human lands to join his cause. What started as a small group swelled as more and more flocked to him, eventually growing large enough to be called a kingdom. Thus was born the Kingdom of Kibihe.
In a world where the strong ruled the weak and power determined all authority, the Beast King naturally ascended the throne. Occasional rebels appeared, only to be crushed by his overwhelming might.
The birth of the kingdom itself posed no issue. It was only natural for outstanding individuals to gather followers and build cities. But then the Beast King declared war on the human kingdoms.
The sudden offensive left humans helpless. They could not withstand the beastkin, whose physical prowess far surpassed their own. The human kingdoms lacked any unity whatsoever—each ruler merely looked after his own interests. The beastkin warriors, seemingly possessed, tore through kingdom after kingdom.
Only when the entire continent began to crumble did the humans finally set aside their greed and unite. Gathering every powerhouse and strategist across the land, they pushed back against the beasts that hungered without limit.
Humans possessed knowledge and willpower beyond compare. The beastkin, however, wielded raw power that surpassed even that. The war remained deadlocked for years. Both sides grew exhausted. The continent was left scarred. Casualties mounted daily in a conflict driven by nothing but hatred.
To end the nightmare, the human representative and the Beast King made a single vow: each side would choose a champion. The winner's demand would be accepted without question by the loser. Continued fighting would lead only to mutual annihilation.
On the appointed day, before the eyes of every soldier and citizen, the champions faced each other—the Beast King with a mane like a lion's, and a knight whose presence evoked the sun itself. Their duel lasted a full week. Strikes flew faster than the eye could follow, each one capable of piercing anything.
The end came on the seventh day. The knight did not miss the Beast King's tiny error. His razor-sharp blade brought the years-long nightmare to a close.
The knight's family—the Sunrise lineage—carried that honor and became the imperial family. The leaderless beastkin scattered across the continent.
Even now, no one knew the exact terms the humans had demanded. It was a truth that had endured for hundreds of years. Only recently, after the new emperor's coronation, had the treatment of beastkin improved significantly. As a result, they had begun appearing more openly. It was also said that in the slums of the eastern continent, beastkin were bought and sold as slaves.
"....Beastkin, huh."
I had never seen one before. Actually meeting one would surely be fascinating.
"Those rotten bastards... Uh...? Sir, why are you suddenly drawing your sword..."
"Wait here a moment."
Ignoring the coachman's horrified face, I leaped down from the carriage, following the faint traces of mana I had sensed. The carriage lurched to a halt, and curses erupted from the vehicles behind us.
...Ten. Or perhaps around fifteen.
From the dense forest lining both sides of the road, I detected multiple weak magical signatures. The crude, filthy nature of the mana made it clear these were not human. Monsters, then.
We still had a long way to go. Best to finish this quickly.
Tap tap tap—!
-...Krr...Krrrr?!
-Kieeeeek—!
I charged into the underbrush where the mana led and found a pack of gnolls hiding among the bushes. Mana surged through my body and blade. One swing felled several at once.
Ping—!Clang!
I deflected an arrow from behind with the flat of my sword, then closed the distance and severed the archer's head.
Slice—Splatter—!
The gnoll pack fell with ridiculous ease. To someone who could now defeat 4-star monsters with proper focus, gnolls were hardly even a warm-up.
"...Let's get moving again."
"Uh... uhhh... Y-yes! You really are incredibly strong... Hehe..."
I climbed back aboard in under a minute. The coachman stared at me in blank amazement, as though he had witnessed a miracle, before finally urging the horses forward once more.
"Cough."
A strange sensation rose in my throat. I couldn't suppress the cough. When I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief from my pocket, a trace of blood stained the cloth.
"Cough... cough."
"Uh... Are you... all right..."
"......Quiet."
".......Yes."
Seeing my signal, the coachman fell silent and focused on driving.
.....There's truly not much time left.
Coughing blood... It was a sign from my failing body. Still, it was all right. The promise I had made with Cerise, the goal I had set for myself—if I completed this final request, both would reach a successful conclusion. It would shine even more brilliantly than in the days when I once commanded the entire empire.
"........."
I gazed at the setting sun in silence.