Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Monsters at the Gates
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"Monsters! Monsters have appeared!"
In Portna, part of the domain of Yajan—a port city and city-state—a shepherd boy yelled at the top of his lungs.
"What nonsense is that? Why would monsters come here?"
The boy wasn't the shepherd from Aesop's fables who cried wolf one too many times until the wolves ate his flock, but the adults still didn't believe him.
And for good reason. Portna was surrounded on all sides by open plains.
With vast wheat fields and pastures where sheep and cattle grazed, Portna hadn't seen so much as a monster's shadow for decades, even if foxes or wolves occasionally appeared.
"It's real! Monsters! The monsters are coming!"
Only when the shepherd boy's face turned pale as a ghost and he screamed did the adults finally shuffle out.
"Did you mistake foxes or wolves for them?"
"Foxes, maybe, but wolves are serious business. Let's go check it out."
Foxes were no match for the shepherd dogs the boy kept with him. Cut!
Wolves were fairly dangerous beasts, but the wolves around Portna weren't massive northern ones—they were relatively small, about the size of the shepherd dogs. A group of six adult men could send them fleeing with tails between their legs.
So the farmers grabbed their hoes, sickles, and flails and headed toward the hill used as a pasture.
And what they saw there.
"Eek?"
"Wh-what the hell is that!?"
At the far end of the golden, rippling wheat fields, hundreds—no, what looked like thousands—of monsters walking on two legs were slowly advancing.
"Run to the village!"
"Hurry!"
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Bells rang wildly as villagers who had gone out to farm or graze livestock came rushing back to the village in a panic.
"Ugh..."
Behind the roughly two-meter-high wooden fence made of sharpened logs crossed together, the village men stood in a line clutching wooden spears and farm tools, trembling all the while.
But no one knew how long the moss-covered fence, which had stood in the same spot since their grandfathers' time, would hold.
"Gods..."
"Sob sob!"
As ordinary farmers, all they could do amid their prayers and tears was grip their tools tightly.
It was happening in villages across the Portna region, the vital grain supplier for the port city of Yajan with over 100,000 residents.
And similar crises were unfolding simultaneously not just in Portna, but all over the world.
* * *
Kieee! Kack!
Every time the longswords of the Royal Knights, uniformed in black brigandine armor, danced, goblins with dark, swarthy skin sprayed blood and fell.
The black goblins, armed with short spears studded with obsidian or daggers, charged relentlessly at the Royal Knights despite watching their kin die one after another.
Their weapons couldn't pierce the knights' brigandine. Not even the outer leather, let alone the chainmail padded inside.
But the brigandines they wore only covered from the torso down to the hips.
The goblins, barely 120 centimeters tall, relentlessly targeted their thighs—and there were so, so many of them.
"Urk!"
"Neman!? Fall back!"
In the end, one Royal Knight with a long gash on his thigh clutched the wound with his left hand, swung his longsword with his right, and staggered backward.
There were five Royal Knights escorting Duke Lloyd.
Normally, there should have been at least twice that number, but this time they were traveling incognito, so only half had come along.
Over a hundred goblins ambushed those Royal Knights.
Mathematically, each knight had to face more than twenty goblins.
Of course, Royal Knights were strong. Normally, they could easily handle thirty of these puny monsters, whose physique and strength were like that of a 12- or 13-year-old boy.
But the timing and location were terrible.
Not in an open field, but on a narrow road flanked by forest, while protecting the carriage carrying their charge.
On top of that, to appear like ordinary nobles, only two knights were on horseback.
Given the situation, dealing with goblins packing both sides of the road was no small ordeal even for Royal Knights, and in the end, one suffered a fairly serious injury.
"Leave the horses! Protecting the carriage comes first!"
As the Royal Knights withdrew in perfect order at their leader's command.
Thung!
The small door on the carriage roof opened, and someone lightly leaped out.
"Sir Teber!?"
Just as the leader's astonished voice rang out, Juang—gripping two 30-centimeter daggers in each hand—jumped from the carriage roof to the ground.
Paht!
Upon landing, he bent at the waist and shot forward like lightning toward the direction swarming with goblins.
"No!"
Before the Royal Knights could even cry out in shock, Juang's hands moved ceaselessly as he ran low to the ground.
Pak! Pa-pak! Pak! Pak!
The stiletto, known as the assassin's dagger, plunged into the heads, necks, and chests of goblins in his path, then withdrew.
Kieeek! Kyaaak!
Some goblins startled and swung their weapons, but it was useless. The undying old monster—whom His Majesty the King deemed better suited as an assassin than a bodyguard—ignored minor scratches and kept thrusting his daggers while sprinting.
"This is...!?"
The seasoned leader of the Royal Knights, realizing Juang was clearing the goblins ahead to open an escape route, bellowed.
"Only clear the ones around the carriage!"
With Juang handling the front alone, the five Royal Knights dispatched the goblins around the carriage far more easily.
Soon, the carriage was on the move again, and three knights quickly helped their injured comrade aboard.
The knights on horseback intercepted goblins chasing the carriage rear as it picked up speed.
"Sir Teeeber!"
At the Royal Knight leader's shout, Juang—who had slain over thirty goblins in the meantime—glanced back and leaped into the air.
Grabbing the leader's hand with brute strength, Juang boarded the carriage and gave a wink.
"Thank you."
"What do you mean! You saved our lives, sir!"
The Royal Knights learned firsthand today why foreign nobles on bad terms with the Obla Kingdom called the King's secretaries "Obla's Hounds."
"Right."
With a light bow, Juang slipped inside the carriage.
* * *
"Good work."
Duke Lloyd, seated with a shortsword laid sheathed across his knees, greeted Juang with a smile.
"Not at all. It felt good to really stretch my limbs after so long. Besides, His Majesty attached me to Your Highness precisely for times like this."
Even elite Royal Knights couldn't suffice for escorting the kingdom's second-in-line to the throne all the way to the distant south with just five men.
That's why the King had dispatched Juang—one of the top three secretaries, called the "Royal Dagger" in Obla and "Obla's Hound" abroad.
"By the way, that Sir Seilun is truly astonishing. It seems like what he said has come to pass, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. This road was perfectly safe on the way down, but if it's like this now... other places don't even bear thinking about."
- Monsters will multiply regardless of type.
- They'll explode in numbers from their habitats at first, but those pushed out by territory fights will gradually descend into human lands.
- No ordinary barony forces could handle it even in their dreams. Even mobilizing every mercenary in the kingdom wouldn't be easy.
- In the end, a massive subjugation to sweep them back to their habitats is needed, then recruit or train dedicated monster-hunting forces like in Duke Sion's territory for ongoing management.
Recalling Sion's warning sobered their expressions.
They'd thought there was at least a month or two leeway when they heard it, but apparently not.
"We'll return to the capital and immediately petition to form a subjugation army. We'll need to draft plans for that monster-hunting specialist force he mentioned too."
While preparing the monster-hunting unit, the royal demesne and central regions at least would require the kingdom's army to handle subjugation directly.
Other areas would fall to the local great lords. That's what the position was for, after all.
"But... can we really leave that place to him?"
"If he's that confident, Your Highness needn't worry."
"Hmm."
Duke Lloyd's face plainly showed his inner thought: *That upright fellow?*
As Juang wiped the goblin blood from his stiletto clean, he spoke.
"He invested all that money in that backwater because he plans to claim it. Besides, His Majesty is already aware."
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yes. In fact, when he heard, His Majesty grinned from ear to ear. Said we get the kingdom's most dangerous region guarded for free without spending a penny."
"Heh..."
Duke Lloyd let out a hollow laugh, unable to picture his ever-stern great-grandfather grinning like that.
Then he soon tilted his head.
"But is that place really that dangerous? I've only heard rumors, but I thought there'd been no issues for decades."
"I've never been there myself, so I can't say for sure. However."
Slipping the stiletto back into his sleeve, Juang turned to Duke Lloyd and continued.
"According to the intelligence guild, he roamed that place for nearly seven years."
"Seven years? Th-then, surely...?"
As Duke Lloyd recoiled in shock, remembering something, Juang replied in a voice slightly trembling unlike his usual self.
"Yes. It's highly likely he actually encountered a dragon. No one survives in the Dragon Wasteland for a year, let alone seven."
"......!!!"
"So, as he said, the gateway to the Dragon Wasteland—Burgos—will become the kingdom's most dangerous region. And he's taking responsibility for it himself. Therefore."
Taking a light breath, Juang returned to his usual impassive demeanor.
"Strongly advocate at the council to leave the Burgos area to him. Then, as he said."
"The results he produces in Burgos become my achievement."
"Exactly."
Project 1 of the "Make Duke Lloyd the Next King" initiative.
It was to fully intervene in Burgos, which Sion had staked as "my land!" right after meeting the wasteland dragon Dercios.
But even for a place he'd invested a fortune in, if the capital ministers scrutinized it down to the nanometer, it'd tire Sion out immensely.
So Sion made a deal with Duke Lloyd.
- The Dragon Wasteland and Burgos will be the most dangerous—fact. But I'll handle it.
- In exchange, you push to make me recognized as the de facto ruler there.
- Of course, the prestige and credit of backing a visionary successor like me goes to you.
- Deal?
- Deal!
A verbal contract, but Project 1 was already underway.
(To be continued in the next installment)