Magical Beasts (4)
After finishing my talks with the self-defense force, I came to a simple conclusion: this village was a lost cause.
"What the hell did you say to them to turn them into fanatics like that?"
"I didn't say anything special. I just listened with everything I had and gave them some real sympathy."
The human heart can be difficult or easy, depending on how you look at it. Even a heart knotted tight with grievances can come undone with a single word of comfort. And if that word comes from a superior who never seemed like he would so much as glance your way? The effect is even stronger—especially after you've suffered to the brink of death.
"They had a lot of complaints. Same with this monster attack. No proper support, and they said they aren't even treated like a real self-defense force."
"Huh? That can't be right. Don't we send them pretty solid support?"
"Yeah. That's the problem."
You can try to cover the sky with your palm, but it won't stay hidden forever. The fact that these bastards had been blatantly skimming money and I was only just finding out about it made my blood boil.
When I get back, I'm going to give Samuel an earful.
I went to the village chief's house. An old man with hair gone completely white greeted me with bright enthusiasm.
"Aigoo! Please, come right in!"
Unlike the shabby exterior, the inside of the village chief's house was packed with surprisingly luxurious goods.
"This is tea brewed from Marina leaves that grow on Sky Peak—rich in fragrance and nutrition."
"This stuff must be pretty hard to get."
I'd occasionally seen Mother or the family's distinguished guests drinking it. I remembered hearing it was quite expensive.
"I set some aside for when important guests visit."
"There's some for the chief himself too, though, isn't there?"
"Wouldn't it be lonely drinking alone?"
"You've got a silver tongue."
This was not his first or second time running this routine. Looks like I was going to have to crack down on the local administrator.
"Oh my... I completely forgot to present a gift."
The village chief took a small pouch from the shelf beside him and handed it over. Inside was a considerable amount of gold. At a glance, it looked like at least fifty gold.
"You saved up quite a bit."
"I scraped it together thriftily."
"Give me more."
"Pardon?"
"I said give me more. This isn't enough."
Tap. Tap. I propped both legs up on the table and lounged back into the sofa.
"Young Master, even so, we simply don't have the money..."
"Tsk. Looks like you haven't grasped the situation. I've already seen the mine and the state of the whole village, you know? Do I look like a pushover to you? Huh?"
The third wastrel of the Bladewyn family. That was me—Robon Bladewyn. Time to show him exactly how high-handed a wastrel could be.
"P-please wait just a moment."
The village chief's face went stiff as he headed up to the second floor.
"Wendy."
"Yeah."
Wendy hopped out the window and vanished.
Slurp—
"Ahh. The tea smells great."
"That damn wastrel bastard! He's got a nose for money, alright!"
The village chief opened a secret vault hidden behind the bookshelf in his second-floor study—his own private space that no one else knew about. Looking at the gold bars filling it, he let out a long sigh.
"A hundred gold should satisfy him. Fuck. If those damned beasts hadn't gone on a rampage...!"
After gathering the gold, he took a deep breath to smother his anger and went back downstairs. Robon Bladewyn was still sitting with his legs up on the table, sipping tea. Looking at that face, the rage he had barely calmed flared up all over again.
"Here, one hundred gold, Young Master."
"Eeh? Only a hundred gold? Chief. Are you looking down on me right now?"
His facial muscles twisted. He was filled with the urge to smash that unpleasant face with his fist, but he barely held back.
"Aigoo! Young Master! Please show mercy just this once! What money would the chief of a tiny village like this have?!"
The village chief dropped to his knees on the spot and began wailing at the top of his lungs. Normally, when an old man went that far, a person's heart would waver. And if there truly was no more money to be found, he'd give up.
Or so he thought.
"Is that so? You really don't have any more?"
"Yes! There truly is none. You're welcome to search my entire house!"
"Then what's that?"
The village chief turned his head toward the stairs. Wendy Bladewyn, a huge bundle slung over her shoulder, dumped a cascading pile of gold coins onto the floor.
"......No, h-how...!"
"So this isn't yours then, Chief? I'll be taking it."
"Th-that's...! Young Master, wait just a moment!"
When the village chief frantically grabbed at him, Robon's expression twisted into something grotesque.
"You old geezer... You're trying to swallow the money right in front of me? Money that was supposed to support the miners?"
"I'm sorry! Please, please just look the other way this once! This old man was momentarily blinded by greed..."
"I won't kill you. But you can't stay here anymore."
"Young Master!"
"Drag him out right now."
When Robon shouted, the soldiers waiting outside seized the village chief and hauled him away.
"Holy crap. Look at this! This has to be nearly a thousand gold, doesn't it?"
Just how much money had he been skimming off the top all this time?
"If we'd used this to properly feed, house, and clothe the miners, mining efficiency would have doubled... no, tripled!!"
Robon let out a deep sigh, as if the waste were a personal injustice.
"Then Father's support would have been greater too, and my research would have gone more smoothly..."
"Young Master!"
Just then, one of the self-defense force members rushed urgently into the village chief's house and called for Robon.
"What is it?"
"Mark has escaped! Just in case, I went looking for him, but I can't find him... I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about. Haa... He's a pain right to the end. Wendy."
"What am I, some hunting dog that fetches animals?"
"When I build the Black Terrahole later, I'll give it to you."
"Really?!"
"But if you can't catch him, no deal."
The moment those words left his mouth, Wendy vanished as if she'd teleported.
"...What? Where'd she go?"
Leaving the runaway to Wendy, Robon stepped outside. Thanks to the untimely commotion, all the village residents had come out. With the village chief gone, most of them looked relieved—but among them were a few who kept glancing around nervously. Probably the ones who'd been colluding with the chief.
"What's your name?"
"Robon's Self-Defense Force! First Squad! Beck! Sir!"
"Good. Beck. From now on, you're the Self-Defense Force Captain. First Squad has nine members, so recruit one more, pick squad leaders for each squad, and run things."
"...Me, sir?"
"You questioning me?"
"I'm sorry! Loyalty! I will carry out your orders!"
Robon clapped Beck on the shoulder, gathered the self-defense force members, and set them to bringing the village chaos under control.
"Everyone, stay sharp! From this moment on, there is no village chief. Our Robon's Self-Defense Force will manage the village for the time being and maintain order until a new chief is appointed!"
"Anyone who followed the former chief, raise your hand and step forward of your own accord! If you're discovered later, you'll be doing punishment drills!"
At Beck's tightly disciplined voice and the members' crisp control, Robon nodded with a smile.
"I caught him! Pervert brother!"
"Drop the 'pervert.' Do it again and no Black Terrahole."
"...So mean!"
Mark's face, as Wendy dragged him over, was swollen and puffy. She must have given him quite a few punches in that short time.
"Finally cleaned out all the cancer cells."
It had taken longer than expected, but this should be enough.
Since I'm already here, should I put them through some live combat training before I go?
Rhets are monsters that dig into the ground and sleep hidden in holes. They look like a cross between a mole and a rat. Because of that, their field of vision isn't wide, and they detect living creatures through ground vibrations and smell.
"Halt! Rhets pack spotted ahead."
Beck raised his hand and issued orders to the members.
"First Squad, stand by. Second Squad, circle around and set an ambush. Third Squad will lure them."
Wendy and I hid up in a tree and simply watched how the self-defense force handled it. Wendy could have stepped out and killed them all, but the self-defense force needed real combat experience. They had to be able to protect this place even without us.
"Nice. They're doing well."
I'd roughly outlined the strategy for them. The advantage of a crossbow is that you can keep it pre-loaded—and that each shot packs serious destructive power. When you face an enemy, you can fire immediately. The closer, the better. Against something like a Rhet, a single crossbow bolt should be enough to inflict a fatal wound. They needed to maximize their hit rate.
The Third Squad members lured the Rhets.
"Good, hold, hold, hold... Now! Fire!"
Second Squad's volley. Bolts slammed dead-on into the Rhets' bodies.
"Kieeeeek!!"
Howling, the Rhets charged toward the Third Squad members. A second volley followed.
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip!!
Rhets that took two consecutive hits or were struck in vital spots—five or six of them—collapsed and dropped out of formation. Sensing the danger, the rest turned and started to flee. Then came the finishing fire from First Squad, who'd been lying in ambush for exactly this.
At that moment, the ground trembled, and something erupted from beneath the feet of the First Squad members, snatching one of them by the ankle and yanking him down.
"Aaaagh!!"
"Belik!!"
"Stay calm! First Squad, keep firing as you are!!"
Beck managed to keep his wits and issue the order, but the First Squad members were already in total panic. In that gap, a pack of Rhets that had heard the commotion closed in to near range.
"Wendy!"
A single leap. As she drew her sword, nine ice blades formed and pierced through the Rhets.
CRACK!!
She drove her sword down beneath Belik, whose foot was half-buried in the earth, and the sound of bone being struck rang out.
Slash—!
Rumble...
Wendy pulled her sword free and stabbed into the ground again, but it was a miss.
"Tch! Fast little bastard."
"Belik! You okay?"
"Grr... I'm fine."
Two holes had been punched through just above his ankle by sharp fangs. Belik groaned as he pressed his hand over the freely flowing blood. Fortunately, it seemed the tendons weren't damaged, so he could still move.
I climbed down from the tree and checked on the members' condition.
"Young Master Robon, how did you...?"
"I was curious how you were doing, so I just happened to be passing by."
Aside from Belik, thankfully no one else was seriously hurt.
"Thank you. If it hadn't been for Young Master Robon and Lady Wendy, a major disaster nearly happened."
Beck bit his lip and blamed himself.
"You trusted me enough to appoint me Self-Defense Force Captain, but I fell short..."
"No, you did well. This was an unavoidable accident."
"Yeah. That thing just now... I think it was a magical beast."
"Pardon? A magical beast...?"
"It got stabbed by my sword and still ran away, right? Ordinary monsters can't do that."
"Haa... If you two hadn't come, we all would have died."
"Don't worry. That magical beast took a fatal wound, so it won't be coming back here again."
At Wendy's words, Beck and the members let out sighs of relief.
"I've never seen a magical beast before."
"Looks like one wandered in by chance. Just think of it as bad luck."
I reassured the members and wrapped up the situation. It would be a problem if their morale dropped over a magical beast for no good reason. Once things had settled somewhat, the members slowly began to realize their own victory.
"Wait, so we actually took down a pack of Rhets?"
"I-is this for real? This actually works?"
"Are your eyes just for decoration? Look over there! They're dead on the ground!"
A dozen or so Rhets lay collapsed on the ground. Half of them had been killed by Wendy, but the other half they'd taken down with their own strength alone. That alone was an astonishing achievement.
The members threw their arms around each other and celebrated. Through all the hard training, a sense of camaraderie had formed between them. This was exactly the effect I'd been after. When the body suffers, you naturally come to rely on your fellow comrades and grow closer.
"Oh, God! We caught those monster bastards!"
"Who are you praying to? God is Young Master Robon!"
"Agreed!"
"Long live Young Master Robon!"
"Long live! Long live!"
"Long liveeeee!!"
Suddenly the members charged at me, hoisted me up, and started tossing me into the air in celebration.
"Hey, you bastards!"
"Long live!!"
"Young Master Robon is the savior of our mining village!"
"Long live Young Master Robon!!"
"Long liveeeee!"
It felt like I'd become the leader of a cult of fanatics. After being tossed into the sky several times, I finally managed to get down—and Wendy's eyes looked dangerous.
"Me too! Me too! Do me too!!"
What's with her now...? The members hesitated, apparently scared of Wendy, so I sighed, scooped her up, and tossed her to them.
"Long live Lady Wendy!!"
"Long live!"
"Lady Wendy saved our lives!"
"Bladewyn forever!!"
"This is fun!!"
She was so into being tossed around that she even started screaming—it was quite a spectacle.
"Why? Why are you putting me down? More! One more time!"
The members exchanged glances and tossed her again.
"One more time!"
That kid can hop and fly around just fine on her own—what's so fun about this?
"More! More! More!"
The members were starting to tire, and the height of each toss was dropping.
"One more tiiime!"
"That's enough, you little brat."
In the end, for the sake of the members who were silently pleading with their eyes for help, I grabbed Wendy by the ear and forcibly hauled her down.
With the self-defense force's combat capability established to a reasonable degree and the cancer cells cleaned out, the work had been wrapped up cleanly.
"Miner, you're going to be the mine manager."
"Me, sir?"
"Yeah. You don't want to?"
"No! I'd love to!"
"If there's anything you need for mining, tell me everything. I'll send a messenger once a week. And if you find any new ores or anything unusual, contact me right away."
"Yes, sir!!"
I'd only been here a day, but I could tell this kid Miner was genuinely serious about mining.
"These are records of the ores I've discovered in the iron mine so far—would Young Master take a look?"
"Oh, let's see."
On a crumpled piece of parchment, he'd written things out in considerable detail, complete with drawings.
"You know how to write?"
"There's someone in the village who does, so they wrote it for me."