#075 Trap
#075 Trap
At that moment, in Regret, the administrative center of the County of Odron.
"It is an honor to meet the Saintess."
"I'm pleased to meet you as well, Count. She isn't here, but Commander Caesar Cross surely would have wanted to meet you too."
"Likewise. I'd like to test which is stronger—my sword or her spear."
"I'll try to arrange that sometime. More importantly, let's get straight to the point."
"...You're quicker than I expected."
"I'm not the type who can stand being curious."
Saintess Yan Diere placed a sheet of parchment in front of Count Odron.
"Holy Sword Village. One of only two survivors. Your daughter. Droniel Odron."
"...Aren't you being a little too direct?"
"I don't like beating around the bush. She's your daughter, isn't she?"
"She is. And... I also know why you're looking for my daughter, Saintess."
Count Odron calmly sipped his tea and steadied his breathing.
"If you're looking for the Hero who wields the Wind Holy Sword, I'm afraid it's pointless. He never knew my daughter was an 'Odron.'"
"You're not covering for her, are you?"
"I swear by the Goddess, it's no lie."
"Hmm..."
He was swearing by the Goddess in front of the Saintess.
What words could inspire more certainty than that?
"If anything, I'm the one who wants to find him. Since he had such a close relationship with my daughter, isn't this a perfect opportunity to make the County of Odron even stronger?"
"The Hero is..."
"I know. That the Church of the Goddess wants to contact him first. But I'm not creating a relationship out of nothing—I'm simply turning an existing relationship into an established fact. The relationship between my daughter and the Hero."
"I didn't think you were the sort to use your daughter to obtain the Hero."
"No parent can win against their child. If it's going to happen anyway, shouldn't we steer it in the direction that helps Odron the most?"
Saintess Yan could no longer press Count Odron.
"Seems I've made a wasted trip."
"You really do say things outright."
Because it seemed there would be little to gain.
"I apologize. It's not much of a recompense, but I'll stay for about a week before leaving. I'd also like to meet Droniel personally."
"We will serve you with all sincerity, Saintess. Tha—"
Beeeeep—
An alarm blared in their ears.
Count Odron's and the Saintess's expressions hardened at the same time.
"A Demonfolk attack...?"
* * *
"Impressive."
The number of Narag Venomous Insects visible outside the village was truly horrifying.
They looked like black fog blanketing the sky, but when that fog moved as if alive, it inspired indescribable terror in humans.
"M-Master!"
It was bad enough that even Lucius was nervously fidgeting with his ring.
The Holy Sword's purification effect meant it wouldn't threaten his life, but the very fact that Lucius was considering using the Holy Sword showed just how tense he was.
"Relax. If you show women how scared you are of bugs, they'll be genuinely disappointed, you know?"
"No, that's..."
Lucius stared at me with a baffled expression, but at my composed demeanor, he swallowed hard and steadied his breathing.
"...It's not dangerous right now, is it?"
"Right. Not right now. You've gotten used to this, haven't you?"
"If you, who handles everything, aren't tense, Master, then I shouldn't be tense either...?"
"Right. That's it. Baby Lucius just needs to trust his master."
And as a bonus, everyone else too.
"Aaaah!!"
The villagers screamed and gathered in the square.
Thinking that running recklessly might get them chased by those things, they instinctively fled to where the people who could protect them were.
"Mage!!"
Some were looking for me, but most sought the village mage.
"M-Magic, eeeek?!"
Those who had entered the mage's house came out screaming.
Lucius stepped in front of me and drew his sword, and the people hurriedly ran toward us.
"Ugh, uuugh..."
"See, Lucius? That's what happens when you get stung by a Narag Venomous Insect."
The veins all over his body looked ready to burst.
Whether he'd been stung on the nape, a swelling the size of a human head bulged from the mage's neck.
"Tch."
I'd been rather pleased to talk with the mage after so long, but judging by his condition, he must have secretly taken some venomous insects for research and gotten bitten.
'It's obvious without even looking.'
It's practically a defining trait of mages to let curiosity get the better of them around things they're told not to mess with, then cause serious accidents.
Mages.
A species of rampant curiosity.
They always think, 'I'll be fine,' and only learn otherwise after something goes wrong.
"Hah."
I aimed my staff at the mage.
"We need to burn it with—"
Slash!
Before I could step in, the mage collapsed, spraying a fountain of blood.
"K-Knight!!"
The one who cut the mage down in a single blow was Black Lotus.
She dispatched the stung mage with one clean stroke, and the strike drew an involuntary exclamation from me.
"Clean."
She brought the mage down decisively without touching the stung area.
If she'd done it knowingly, she was certainly capable; if she hadn't known, she'd been lucky.
"Step back. That swelling is a poison bomb."
"!!"
Black Lotus flinched and backed away.
"Clean."
After washing the blood from her body with Clean Magic, I immediately aimed my staff at the mage's swelling and launched a Fireball.
Crackle.
The venom pooled in the swelling burned away in an instant.
"It's called venom, but it's different from ordinary poison. It forcibly expands the blood, and the moment it reaches the heart, the heart bursts. Then it's a human blood bomb—boom."
"Wh-why would such a venomous insect...?"
"Who knows. Maybe someone captured them for research. The problem is these things..."
Crunch.
I lit a flame at the tip of my staff and scraped the corpse's nape.
Then the body of the venomous insect hidden inside the swelling was revealed, and the people turned pale at the sight of its tail stinger buried in the mage's neck.
"Th-this is insane...! Such a monster exists...?!"
Its size was nearly the swelling itself.
It was practically the same size as the swelling it had been hiding inside.
"Village chief. Did anything like this happen before we arrived?"
"N-no...!"
Apparently deciding I was their best hope, the chief immediately adopted a deferential attitude and pointed to the mage.
"Whenever livestock died, the mage took care of it...! He sprinkled holy water and buried them in the ground...!"
"Hmm..."
If I pushed my assumptions too hard, I might invite misunderstanding.
In that case.
"Everyone gather around me! The vanguard of the venomous insects may have already entered the barrier!"
"Y-yes...!!"
The villagers gathered around me in an instant.
In a moment of crisis, they seek a god or seek a hero.
It's a basic human instinct, and I don't particularly think badly of it.
Because it's only natural for intelligent social creatures to rely on the strong.
'Most of them usually seek the Goddess.'
"Oh Goddess...!"
'But what happens when they learn the Goddess's protection doesn't work?'
"H-how can venomous insects be like this...?!"
"Wait...! I've heard of this! Venomous insects that Divine Power doesn't work on!"
'Correct, villager.'
I was glad I didn't have to explain everything myself.
"This is insane! These are the insects the Great Demon King used! I-I saw them in a history book!!"
"What?! Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
"The larval form wasn't in the damned monster encyclopedia!"
The Great Demon King Belphegor's "evil deeds" had been thoroughly preserved, and among them, the Magic Beasts that had earned infamy like the Narag Venomous Insects remained to this day in the form of monster encyclopedias.
Then why had no one known until now?
Because of the five hundred years.
"So they parasitize human bodies and drain their fluids, trying to recover their form from five hundred years ago..."
Everyone was horrified at my words.
Just by letting it slip as if muttering to myself, the humans easily fell into panic.
"W-Witch! What do we do?!"
"...Calm down."
What good does it do if you panic, Rosemas?
"Witch, please help us!"
"Don't worry. You'll be safe for at least three hours."
"Th-three hours...?"
"Yes. Those ones outside."
It wasn't long enough to relax completely, but it was enough to breathe a little easier.
I pointed at the venomous insects slowly descending toward the village.
"Look at that."
Skreeee!!
The venomous insects only circled the village, not daring to descend recklessly.
"It's invisible to human eyes, but you can see it with mana sight. The defensive barrier spread over this village right now."
"A b-barrier...?"
"Yes. I set it up just in case. It's a good thing I went around repairing the village's defensive barrier yesterday, since it was so flimsy."
I winked at Lucius.
The reason the villagers couldn't harbor doubts about the barrier was that I'd kept Lucius with me the entire time I was setting it up.
"Then those actions yesterday were...?!"
"I was just being cautious, and fortunately it paid off. However."
The timing had worked out perfectly.
I discerned the ominous movement of the venomous insects that had only been circling outside the barrier.
"Occasionally, there are always some that try to force their way through the barrier like that."
Skreeee!!
The organic movement of the venomous insects formed a shape.
"That's..."
"A cavalry lance?"
A lance.
Like a cavalry lance with a sharp tip, the venomous insects formed ranks and aimed their stingers at the barrier's diagonal line.
"They seem to be aiming for the barrier's weak point?"
"U-uaaah?! Then—"
"We all die."
SWISH!!
The venomous insects plunged into the barrier all at once.
They found the gap in the barrier—like a physical shield—the loosest hole, and were trying to squeeze their bodies through.
But that gap was a deliberately made trap.
Skreeee!!
The place they thought was a hole in the barrier was actually an entrance into another barrier.
"Barriers are only properly done when they're double-layered."
CRACKLE!!
A red Magic Circle flashed in the transparent air and snared the venomous insects like a net.
The insects that had burrowed inside were sucked into a Magic Circle like a giant cup, and in the flames blazing within, they crumbled into ash and fell below.
"Insect net, Flame Nepenthes."
A fiery cast net that not even an insect smaller than a grain of rice could pass through.
"Flashy, isn't it?"
The effect was outstanding too.
Though it brought tears to my eyes.
Narag Venomous Insects.
Because they were things I had used against humans, I had made sure humans could never benefit from the Narag Venomous Insects.
"Wow, they're so easy to catch. Especially since these bugs don't even drop Mana Stones."
Ah.
Why am I crying?