The Fraudulent Protagonist Begins the Cleanup (2)
That same night. In a forest roughly 5 km from the Neutral Saintess’s hospital lay the temporary encampment of the Kelts Pitra bandit group. Nearly fifty bandits had gathered in a clearing ringed by trees, resting as best they could.
“Haaah… How irritating. Geron, still no word?”
“L-Leader. Not only the three we used as bait, but even Vice-Leader Delpiari has sent no word. This has never happened before.”
Inside the single tent in the encampment, Kunt—the leader of Kelts Pitra—and his lieutenant Geron were speaking in low voices.
“Honestly, it’s hard to believe, but… maybe the vice-leader failed to lure the wartrolls and got caught up with them?”
“…Delpiari isn’t the type to make that kind of mistake.”
“B-But there’s no other possibility, is there? Do you really think it’s more believable that the Neutral Saintess wiped out over three hundred wartrolls and the vice-leader’s entire party at the hospital?”
“…That’s impossible. Three hundred wartrolls. That’s a legion with generals and riders. Even the rumored ‘Euroka’ couldn’t pull that off.”
“Exactly.”
“Tch! Send someone to check what’s going on.”
“Who? All the fast ones already left, and the ones left are mostly—”
“Anyone will do. Just confirm the hospital’s condition and where the wartrolls are.”
“Leader! Pardon me!”
Just as they were wrapping up their rough plan, someone burst into the tent.
“What is it? What’s the sudden commotion?”
“V-Vice-Leader! The vice-leader has returned!”
“What? Returned?”
Startled by the unexpected report, Kunt rose and stepped out of the tent. Geron and the reporting bandit followed him outside.
What they saw was Delpiari chatting with the resting bandits, accompanied by the eleven men who had left with him.
“Delpi!”
“I’m back, Leader. Heh-heh.”
“What the hell! Why are you only returning now?”
“There were… a few complications. Heh-heh-heh.”
“Complications? What complications?”
“You needn’t worry. In fact, there’s no need to worry at all. Let’s go inside and I’ll explain everything slowly. Heh-heh-heh.”
Seeing Delpiari answer with his usual bright smile, Kunt judged that nothing serious had occurred and felt a wave of relief. He led only Delpiari back into the tent.
Once inside, Kunt poured liquor from a bottle he had prepared—as he always did when Delpiari returned from a mission—into a cup. He handed the full cup to Delpiari and took a long swig straight from the bottle himself.
“Kuhh… Delpi, you were later than usual. I thought something must have gone wrong.”
“I imagined you would be concerned. This has never happened before, after all.”
“What went wrong? Did they discover your identity? Could you not control the wartrolls properly? Or was there an unexpected expert?”
Delpiari did not answer immediately. He merely stared at the cup of liquor in his hands, letting the silence stretch.
“…? Delpi?”
“……I never thought I would drink this liquor again. Nor that I would see you again, Leader.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said. That I was able to return here is both a miracle and that person’s consideration. Of course, it is not good news for you, Leader.”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Speak plainly.”
“It is as you said, Leader. Our identities were discovered. We failed to control the wartrolls. And there was indeed an unexpected individual present. Keh-heh-heh-heh.”
Realizing something was terribly wrong, Kunt set the bottle down.
“Delpi, speak clearly. I can’t understand a single word you’re saying.”
“There is no need for you to understand. In fact, there is nothing to understand. It’s simply—”
Delpiari drained the cup in one gulp.
“It’s simply that all the sins you’ve committed have come back to haunt you. That is all you need to think.”
“Sins committed…?”
“L-Leader! Leader!! It’s terrible! Something awful has happened!!!”
Suddenly Geron screamed and burst into the tent. Pale-faced, he pointed outside, seemingly oblivious to the strange atmosphere inside.
“W-W-Wartrolls! Wartrolls have appeared!!”
“What?! Wartrolls? What are you talking about!”
“Th-They suddenly came out of the grass—”
Kyaaaaak!!
Uwaaak! Save me!!
Screams erupted from outside the tent.
[Your subordinates have fallen into an abnormal state: Panic.]
[Your subordinates have fallen into an abnormal state: Fear.]
[The bandit group Kelts Pitra’s morale has dropped to 10%.]
[The bandit group Kelts Pitra’s combat strength has plummeted.]
System windows reporting the state of his bandit group flooded Kunt’s vision one after another. Without waiting for Geron’s explanation, Kunt rushed out of the tent.
The cheerful reunion he had witnessed moments ago was gone. Instead, he saw dozens of wartrolls and his subordinates fleeing in terror.
“W-What the hell is this…! Why… why are wartrolls here…?”
Kunt’s words trailed off as his gaze fell on Delpiari, who still stood inside the tent with a faint smile. He charged at him.
Thud!
Delpiari did not dodge the tackle. Both men tumbled to the ground, and Kunt climbed atop him, pinning his arms.
“Delpi! Was this your doing?!”
“Heh-heh-heh. Calm yourself, Leader. This was not my doing. It was that person’s work.”
“Do I look calm to you?! What the hell are you saying?! Who is ‘that person’ supposed to be?!”
“Keh-heh-heh-heh! Someone whose name you dare not even speak, Leader. I merely came to deliver a message from that person.”
Delpiari smiled as he always did.
“‘Feel the same emotions as the people who died because of your insane schemes.’”
“Y-You bastard!! Delpiari!! You traitor!!”
Crack!!
Overwhelmed by betrayal, Kunt snapped Delpiari’s neck. Confirming the head had twisted at an unnatural angle, he stood up, grabbed his weapon, and prepared to flee.
“Geron!”
“Y-Yes!”
“We’re running!”
“What?! L-Leader! What about the men…!”
“Idiot! These are wartrolls! Even at full strength, our group could barely handle five of them! Right now, abandoning everything and running is the priority!”
“U-Understood!!”
“We’ll escape through the back of the tent! The ones in front should be distracted, so there might be fewer behind!”
Kunt quickly explained the plan to Geron, then slashed open the rear of the tent with his sword and dashed outside. As expected, there were fewer wartrolls behind the tent, and even those were focused on the screaming bandits fleeing in every direction.
‘Good! We can make it! We can escape!’
Kunt and Geron sprinted madly, weaving past several wartrolls before plunging into the undergrowth. Then they saw it.
“W-What is this…!”
Wartrolls lined up at regular intervals, as if they had known exactly where escapees would run. Paying no attention to the other bandits, every single one of them stared directly at Kunt and Geron.
“S-So many wartrolls… This is impossible…”
[Geron has fallen into an abnormal state: Despair.]
[Geron has fallen into a state of total incapacitation.]
Faced with over a hundred wartrolls, Geron lost all will to live.
‘Ah, there’s still one last resort!!’
“Uwaaaah!!”
Unlike Geron, Kunt did not stop. He charged forward with a scream, drawing the artifact dagger he always kept on his person—the weapon capable of casting the B-rank fire spell Royal Flare once.
‘No matter how strong a wartroll is, it can’t withstand B-rank magic! If I just deal with the one in front, I can still escape somehow!’
“Die!! Royal Flare!!”
The dagger Kunt hurled buried itself in the chest of the nearest wartroll.
Fwoosh!!
Kuooorgh!!
The blade erupted with crimson light, unleashing Royal Flare. The wartroll, exposed to the intense heat, screamed as its body began to burn from the inside out.
Seeing the monster fail to withstand the magic as expected, Kunt felt a spark of hope.
‘It worked! Now I can use this one as a stepping stone and—!’
Grab!
“Kuhak?!”
His hope vanished instantly. The burning wartroll had not died. Its hand shot out and seized him.
Sizzle~!
“K-Kuaaaagh!!”
[Exposed to a powerful fire-attribute attack.]
[Status abnormality: Burn inflicted.]
[Continuous pain and damage sustained.]
The heat of Royal Flare transferred through the wartroll’s hand into Kunt’s body.
“W-Why?! Why aren’t you dead?!”
Kunt thrashed and screamed in disbelief. But the impossible did not end there.
“Aah~ I told you, if you had just stayed still you could have died with minimal pain and fear… Keh-heh-heh.”
A familiar voice came from behind him. The sound of laughter approaching through the undergrowth made Kunt wonder if he was dreaming, even as death loomed.
“D-Delpiari…! H-How…!”
“How, you ask? Because I was already dead to begin with.”
Delpiari showed Kunt the gaping hole in his own chest.
“Keh-heh-heh-heh.”
[Status abnormality: Confusion inflicted.]
[Status abnormality: Fear inflicted.]
[Status abnormality: Panic inflicted.]
[Status abnormality: Despair inflicted.]
[Total incapacitation inflicted.]
“Well~ There’s no point saying any more. It was fun working with you until now. Farewell~ Keh-heh-heh-heh.”
“W-What… What the hell are you—”
Crack!
Fwoosh!
The wartroll’s grip tightened. Kunt’s body went limp. Then, overwhelmed by the extreme heat, his entire form burst into flames.
The leader of Kelts Pitra, Kunt, met his end burning alive, driven mad by the despair of knowing escape was impossible.
“Keh-heh-heh! Well now, that was quite the satisfying conclusion for that person.”
Delpiari offered a final greeting to the pile of ashes that had been Kunt, then turned and walked back toward the tent.
The interior of the Kelts Pitra encampment was already overrun by nearly a hundred wartrolls. Not a single living bandit remained—only the eleven who had become zombies stood waiting.
“Now then, let us return and report to that person. As of today, Kelts Pitra has been completely annihilated.”
At Delpiari’s words, the bandits and wartrolls left the encampment without a second glance.