Blackout (3)
Blackout (3)
As they drew closer to the city, the traces of the Hydra's rampage lay scattered everywhere.
A broken wagon wheel turned slowly in the breeze, and wolves could be seen tearing at the carcass of a packhorse. Apples had spilled from a cart not far away.
Squeak!
A wildcat pounced on a rat that had been gnawing at a crushed apple, and a death scream rang out.
The birds that had been pecking at the surrounding apples flew up in alarm all at once.
"No battlefield scavengers in sight,"
one of the mercenaries remarked, picking out a relatively intact apple and polishing it against his tunic.
Just as stray dogs gathered to lick the bones left behind after a predator had fed,
the poor and vagrants flocked to battlefields to gather whatever scraps the victors left behind—especially if there was a village or city nearby.
"Usually you only see that where the fighting's dragged on."
"Speaks to how terrifying the Hydra must be. You saw those trees knocked down earlier, right? Something that size could ram through most any city gate, couldn't it?"
Even the veteran mercenaries were beginning to show signs of tension.
Of course, no one thought the subjugation would fail. No one could even imagine the knight with the Wendigo cloak billowing before him suffering defeat.
But to create an opportunity for him to fight properly, the troops under his command had to provide support. And if they were unlucky in that process, they could end up screaming their last.
"Were the ones we fought before any easier?"
"Everyone, don't be afraid. Just do as we've always done."
Looking back, they had roamed many strange battlefields over the span of a little more than a year.
From heretical demonic beasts and death knights to hordes of undead risen from demon corpses, monsters blessed by evil gods, and ancient spirits that had lived for thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
They had weathered scenes so varied they might be dismissed as tall tales, and they had come through with all their limbs intact. That was not simply due to luck, nor solely because Eugene's army was strong.
It was because the commander always strove to keep every subordinate within his sight.
-Shall I give the order to light the torches?
-No. I wish to avoid a night pursuit.
-But if we chase them now...
-There's no need to grow so heated over someone else's war. Maintain a thorough watch and get some rest.
He was unlike other knights who treated their underlings as expendable tools in the pursuit of glory. He sought a clean victory without losses over a great victory with casualties.
-Second rank, fall back. Rotate with the rear reserve.
-Castle Lord! They can still hold out!
-Not from what I see. Rotate now.
On the battlefield, he watched the rear as closely as the front, keeping a constant eye on his soldiers' condition.
"What? Have I got something on my face?"
"N-no, my lord."
The sight of Eugene, whose eyes had happened to meet theirs, grinning as he spoke. At that solid smile, the mercenaries felt their pounding hearts settle.
* * *
When they arrived in the city, the representatives of each guild and major trading company had come out to greet them. Two men, however, were in the midst of an argument.
"Do you think I provided that funding just to listen to this sort of drivel?"
The mayor shouted, full of irritation. He was so busy raging that he had not even noticed Eugene's arrival.
"If you failed to pioneer the sea route, you should be throwing yourself flat and saying 'I'm sorry!'—but what? An unknown continent? Are you joking right now?"
"It is no lie."
The captain of bronze-hued skin protested, aggrieved. A beard that seemed worn by the sea wind, wrinkles carved as though pickled by salt no less than by age. The very image of a man of the sea.
He had received investment from the city to pioneer a new route, only to encounter a storm and lose everything. That he had even saved his life and returned was a stroke of tremendous fortune, but the captain had no desire to abandon his dream here.
"There lies a vast land there, beyond anything we could imagine. Countless gold mines lie sleeping, and it is a place flowing with milk and honey..."
"There *is* a land? Or there *is said to be* a land?"
"Ah..."
"What are you doing? Answer quickly!"
The captain, who had been hemming and hawing, answered reluctantly.
"I have not seen it with my own eyes, however."
"And wasn't it told to you by some native on an island whose name we don't even know? How can you trust the words of such a savage tribe?"
"That man is a priest of truth. He swore an oath before a land god and has never told a lie in his life."
"Enough! Enough! The city is paralyzed right now because of that damn Hydra. I can't spend any more coin. Your ship sank, more than half your crew is dead—surely you aren't asking me to buy you all new ones?"
Struck to the heart, the captain bit his lip. The wrangling continued a little longer, but in the end, the captain trudged away with slumped shoulders.
"Seems to be a bad time all around?"
"L-Lord Viscount?! Since when have you been..."
The mayor jumped, clearly startled.
"Forgive me. This lowly one committed a grave discourtesy, unaware that Your Excellency had arrived."
Mayor Giacomo bowed and scraped, his demeanor a complete reversal from how he had treated the captain moments before.
'Damn it. I should have just chased that wretch off and focused on the reception.'
The trouble was that he had been under too much stress of late. He had lost his reason for a moment because of that shameless captain who came back begging for more money after failing his task.
Letting out his anger had cleared his head somewhat, but if the price for that was the Viscount's displeasure, it was an enormous loss.
"Don't mind it. I confirmed on the way here how serious the situation is."
"I thank you for your mercy, deep as the sea. Now that you have come, Lord Viscount, the Hydra is as good as dead. You have made a difficult journey while undoubtedly busy with stabilizing the city."
Giacomo wrung his hands diligently, flattering just as he had when dealing with the former Count.
"You've had your share of troubles from the start of your term as well."
"It is all the will of the gods, no doubt. Ahaha... ha... haah."
The Water City had been a dependency of the former Count. It was governed by a city council composed of the city's magnates.
The mayor, as their representative, was appointed by the Count's selection from among the council members, and the criteria were simple: the man who offered the largest bribe and promised the highest taxes was chosen.
By its nature, the structure ensured that the man who became mayor was corrupt and adept at squeezing the citizenry.
Giacomo had spent an immense sum to rise to the position of mayor, only for war to break out six months later and the city's master to change.
-Praise the God!
-P-praise the God!
-Mayor Giacomo. I have heard of you, brother, from many sources. It seems you enjoyed the former Count's favor, yes? From now on, you will report the city's operational status to the monastery every week.
The gaze of the bishop dispatched to the city upon Giacomo was as cold as a sheet of ice. As though looking at a maggot sucking the lifeblood of the people.
For now, the city had to keep running without chaos, so he was left in place, but the clear message was that any monkey business would see him sent away at once.
Just as he was about to start recouping his investment, Giacomo found himself under brutal scrutiny and wept tears of blood. Henceforth, he had no choice but to administer the city soundly.
'One wrong move and I'll be dragged off to the Apostolic Council for judgment. That'll be the end of me.'
In calculation and organizational management, the clergy were an elite group rivaling any merchant. If they had been sent all the way to Sicily, neither trickery nor bribery was possible.
"You must be weary from your journey; I wish to extend our hospitality with the utmost sincerity."
"No banquet."
"But having invited you, we cannot simply do nothing at all."
"Catching the Hydra comes first. From what I've seen, it's carrying an egg sac. If we don't catch it as fast as possible, things will get troublesome."
Giacomo had wanted to curry favor with the new power, but Viscount Meyer appeared to be of precisely the opposite disposition from the former Count.
'Damnation. Where in the world did the Apostolic Council people find a noble who's exactly like themselves?'
For a city famed for leisure and pleasure, there should have been plenty to tempt him, yet here he was talking about monster hunting first, just as the rumors had said.
"I want to see every map the city possesses."
"I shall bring them at once!"
Giacomo, who had diligently prepared chests of bribes, wine, and dancing girls but had not once thought about maps, scrambled into frantic motion.
"M-master? You could have ordered us to do it."
His bewildered slaves followed after him. Watching Giacomo's corpulent back, Rex stroked his chin.
"He reminds me of Magistrate Panis. They look a bit alike, don't they?"
"That's a rude thing to say. Keep your comparisons apt."
They were similar up to a point—both fat, ambitious, and unsparing in their methods. But Panis possessed exceptional competence and an incomparably fierce love for his city.
[I offer my congratulations on your shining success. I am sincerely grateful for your high regard, but I wish to bury my bones in Bonyard. It is my calling to develop this fine city that gave me my chance at advancement, even a little, and to pass it on to future generations.]
Eugene had dangled the governorship of the northwestern port city of Phileremo and sent a recruitment letter. But the reply had been a flat refusal.
It was the highest opportunity for advancement a commoner could ever receive. The man had turned it down out of sheer love for his city. To compare him to a corrupt creature like this was a shameful thing.
* * *
Perhaps because of the Hydra, the Water City was in a semi-wartime state. Every ward was overflowing with wounded, and even the church had suspended worship to concentrate on healing efforts.
"You warriors, gathered for glory! Will you not join our Gorba Mercenary Company? Using dwarven heavy crossbows, we guarantee the lowest casualties in any operation..."
All along the main thoroughfares, mercenary companies had set up platforms to recruit unattached mercenaries, seeking to replenish their ranks.
Veterans of fine physique and excellent equipment from within the companies were arrayed, displaying their might.
"E-excuse me..."
"Oh! Interested, are you?"
"Yes, but I've got no gear—just myself."
"Fine! Fine! Just bring yourself. We can lend you the minimum equipment, at least."
"Truly?"
"I was just the same as you once. Everyone starts this way, doesn't he?"
Young men ignorant of the ways of the world, sick of boredom and drawn by ambition. They were the favorite prey of the jaded, hardened mercenary companies.
They could be paid low wages and put to thoroughly practical use, from every kind of menial task to serving as meat shields.
"Join the Silver Axe Mercenary Company! You have all already heard how we faced those demon-like Immortals in this crusade and cut down their captain!"
"???"
"Why, those sons of bitches?"
Eugene's men, who had been passing by and watching with interest, bristled in fury.
It was Eugene's horse archers who had pursued the retreating Immortals and dealt them a devastating blow. Even with the Immortal captain, he had been forced to his knees with three arrows lodged in him when some mercenary scum dealt the final blow.
To see them dressing it up as though they had fought and won the battle themselves made their blood boil.
"Enough. Let it go."
"But, Lord Viscount!"
"The Apostolic Council has received the full report on that battle. They can talk like that when luring lowly mercenaries, but the moment the stakes get any higher, they'll be too scared to keep lying."
Whether mercenary or knight, inflating one's own achievements was a common thing. Pointing out every instance of it one by one was far too exhausting a task.
"Still, to be so brazen in broad daylight, before all these people!"
"It's not a complete falsehood, is it? I'd rather not stir up trouble on the first day in another man's domain."
Among the thoroughly agitated soldiers, Haind too had placed his hand on his sword hilt.
"Are you truly so unbothered by it?"
This was Haind, educated as a proper knight. He could tolerate many things, but trampling on the achievements of the battlefield was not one of them. His expression showed he wanted to smash the platform and challenge the Silver Axe mercenary captain to a duel.
"I am thinking, perhaps, that the next time I run into them, I can use this as leverage to work them cheaply."
"..."
The better a knight was, and the higher a noble's power and prestige, the more sensitive they were to any slight against their honor.
Eugene, however, had little interest in the bickering and squabbling of lesser men. Even kings were maligned behind their backs, after all, so long as the subjects were not present.
In the end, his soldiers worked off their rage by summoning every ounce of strength they had possessed since they were infants and spitting toward the platform.
"Khaa... ptooey!"
And Eugene saw the model squire Haind spit on a public thoroughfare for the very first time.
"Sir Knight. That's not how you do it. Imagine you've grown a second lung behind your nose. Draw it in as de~ep as you can."
"Grrrrmm!"
"That's it! Then you use your tongue like a catapult and launch it!"
"Ptooey!"
The cheer of his subordinates reached his ears. Morale had risen one way or another, so wasn't that a good thing?
* * *
"It is an honor to see you once again... Khh!"
"Lie still."
Eugene restrained the Holy War Knight Commander, who was trying to force himself up from the sickbed.
He had suffered a severe injury while fighting the Hydra, caught by its tail and left with broken ribs. Had his luck been just a little worse, the broken bone would have pierced his lungs and killed him.
The best hospital in the city was here, filled with mercenaries and knights groaning from their wounds.
"What? Say that again! What did you just say?!"
"Cough! Cough! F-first, let go of my throat..."
"You dare say you'll cut off a knight's leg? Fine, I'll carve off your head first!"
The priests barely managed to restrain the knight who was rampaging upon his sickbed.
"Sir Knight. The nerves and cartilage in the right leg have all been severed and it is necrotizing. If it continues to rot, your very life will be in danger."
"No! I will never permit it!"
Watching the scene with a heavy heart, the Knight Commander nodded his head in salute to Eugene.
"Please forgive the rudeness of greeting you while lying down."
"Do not trouble yourself. You have earned the right. If it were not for your order, far more would have died."
At the attitude that treated him just as a comrade, unchanged even after becoming a viscount, the Knight Commander's eyes glistened.
Strictly speaking, the tears were from the intense pain, but Eugene's warm demeanor had certainly made the welling drops larger.
"I see almost no members of your order in the city."
"Only the wounded, myself included, were evacuated here. The rest are in pursuit of the Hydra. The vice-commander, Philip, now leads them."
"If you entrusted the operation to him, he must be quite capable."
The previous vice-commander had died fighting the former count. For a man to press on with the operation after the loss of both commanders who had been leading the holy knights, he had to be remarkably competent.
"He was a knight who once made his name famous hunting monsters. Then he heard the voice of god and became a brother to us last year."
He had ascended to the position of vice-commander through a fortunate mix of circumstances, despite having joined the order barely a year ago.
"He must have heard I was departing. Did he not push too aggressively?"
"Philip said the Hydra has not much life left."
"The creature has been active for centuries; that would be no surprise."
"Are you aware it was carrying eggs?"
"Ah, I saw the broken shells on my way here."
"When death draws near, the urge to leave progeny behind burns fiercely. It is the same for the beast."
Possessing a wealth of knowledge about monsters, Vice-Commander Philip had seen the egg sacs clinging to the Hydra's body and realized that hatching was imminent.
-We must fight now.
-The Viscount is coming; would it not be better to wait and fight together?
-Soon the Hydra will slink deep into the mountains, dig into the earth, and hide. Then there will be no way to find it. The hatchlings will feed on their mother's corpse and grow safely.
There was no other choice. Heeding Philip's counsel, the Knight Commander rallied the mercenary company and knights and set out on the subjugation. The battlefield Eugene had witnessed upon arriving was only one part of it.
"So were all the eggs destroyed? If it has little life left, there would be no need to catch the Hydra itself—simply crushing the eggs should suffice."
"I am sorry. I was unconscious for three days and only came to my senses this dawn."
"Very well. You have endured much. Leave the rest to me."
"I ask this of you. They are bold brothers, but their swords are accustomed to facing heretics, bandits, and common monsters. Against an aberration beyond all norm like this, everyone lacks the experience..."
Eugene once more forced the Knight Commander, who was again trying to rise, to lie back down, then walked out of the ward.
* * *
Eugene's army finished their basic refitting and set out immediately.
The trail was agonizingly clear, since a large force had been pursuing and fighting a massive monster.
Even when the trail was lost at times, the frequent encounters with stragglers and the wounded made the pursuit an easy one.
"I-it went that way!"
"Please hurry, my lord! The holy knights look like they are about to be wiped out!"
The mercenaries, hired at great expense from the city, pleaded with Eugene as they fretted over the order's knights.
Unlike ordinary knights who treated them like expendable material, the holy knights had respected them as equal comrades.
In every dangerous situation, they had always fought at the vanguard, dying and getting wounded. Seeing that, even the money-grubbing mercenaries could not help but feel a sense of loyalty.
"There's another egg over here!"
The scouts pointed out a smashed eggshell from which a regurgitated mass oozed and quivered. Around it, scattered red blood shed by humans and what appeared to be blue blood from the Hydra stained the ground.
It seemed the subjugation force was slowly, but surely, accumulating damage on the Hydra.
At last, Eugene's army reached the top of a hill that commanded a clear view of the fierce battlefield.
ROOOOAR!
"Retreat! Fall back!"
Upon the broad plain stood the Hydra, roaring in triumph, and the army that had reached its culminating point of attack and was now routing. In the end, the Hydra's regeneration had won the tenacious chase.
'So that was what the creature looked like.'
It was a terrifying sight: a dinosaur-like body with what looked like lesser serpent-dragons hanging clustered from it.
"Aaaaah!"
"Save me!"
Mercenaries unable to run because of their wounds were snatched up in the lesser serpents' jaws and lifted into the air.
"Please, save..."
Gulp!
The mercenaries' screams were cut off as they were swallowed whole. First the upper body vanished, then the flailing legs and the boots disappeared.
Then a pink snake tongue, the size of a rug, flicked through the air, and even Eugene's men felt a chill crawl up their spines.
Naturally, the soldiers fleeing before it screamed, wept, and begged. Some had lost control of their bladders and were running with urine soaking their trousers.
"You were right. Its regeneration is ridiculous. After all that fighting, it doesn't have a single wound left."
Eugene clicked his tongue at the Hydra's pristine condition.
The fleeing subjugation force was still sizeable, but their will to fight had been cleanly vaporized.
The more they fought, the more their comrades died and vanished, while the monster remained as unharmed as when they had first met it. It was only natural that their resolve would break.
What meaning was there in wounding the Hydra if it cost the lives of three of their own?
In ten seconds, the Hydra would be whole again, while the dead comrades would not return. The friend who had shared a meal with you just yesterday now stared at you with vacant eyes, utterly still.
When this cycle repeated endlessly, no matter how well-trained the elite troops were, their morale was bound to shatter.
"Still, it seems all the eggs were burst."
As Rex had said, the egg sacs attached to the Hydra's body were entirely empty.
"Then there is no need to pursue, is there?"
"It would seem so, yet something is odd."
Rex cocked his head.
"It is far too calm. The wailing we heard on our way to the city was full of grief and fury, like a parent who had lost a child."
For a gambler, reading an opponent's face was essential. For a gladiator, reading an opponent's breathing was essential.
Likewise, when hunting a monster of medium size or larger, you always had to gauge its emotional state.
Driving a monster as one would expertly pay out and reel in a line against a great catch was the mark of a superior hunter.
And the reason for the Hydra's composure soon revealed itself.
"Another one has appeared!"
"But it is much smaller... Could it be a hatchling that emerged already?"
A much smaller specimen appeared behind the colossal Hydra.
It was not only smaller in size but had just a single head and a different body shape entirely. Save for the short, atrophied-looking limbs attached to it, it resembled the anaconda from Eugene's memory.
"Rather than a hatchling, could that be the male?"
"Ah!"
It was just as Eugene had guessed.
Over the victorious battlefield, the final courtship of the aged female and the male took place.
It truly seemed, as Vice-Commander Philip had said, that the Hydra had little life left. It did not withdraw to a safe zone; there, on the very spot of its victory, the final mating proceeded.
The act was so swift that Eugene's army, arrayed upon the hill, had no opening to attack.
Chomp!
As soon as the mating ended, the bride bit down upon the male's head. She had expended enormous nutrients fertilizing egg after egg.
Gulp, gulp.
Even as he was swallowed by his bride, the male did not resist but docilely offered up his body. It was as if he understood that should this attempt also fail, the lineage of their kind on this island would be severed.
"All troops, prepare to attack."
Eugene's flat, calm voice pierced through the haze of unnamable emotion that had gripped his watching men.
"The wounds may have healed, but they cannot restore spent stamina. It is exhausted, and its body has grown heavier. If you wish to attack, now is the optimal moment."
A commander who could coldly judge and issue orders in any situation inspired faith in his subordinates.
The army, reorganizing from a marching formation into a battle formation with perfect discipline, descended the hill.
"It's our allies!"
"Everyone, halt! Reinforcements have arrived, I say! Halt, I tell you!"
The knights and mercenary captains, their faces alight with renewed hope, tried to rally the troops, but it was difficult.
"What use are reinforcements against an immortal monster, no matter how many come? We will all die anyway."
"He's right, Captain! We have to flee!"
"You bastards, do you not see that banner? Look at the bow that shoots lightning! Viscount Meyer has come, I tell you!"
A resurrected hope and a chance to catch the eye of a powerful noble! The captains, hungry for advancement, desperately tried to persuade their men, but the prevailing tide was still flight. The pursuit had been one that had accumulated stress, fatigue, and terror to a horrifying degree.
Hissssss!
The savage, giant heads of the lesser serpents all turned toward Eugene's army in unison. But his men, their battle formation complete, faced the creature without fear, lined up in orderly ranks.
"Let the real battle be like your training!"
Eugene's shout rang out like thunder.
"And your training like a real battle!"
The knights standing in a line and the troops behind them answered back in a single voice.
It was a slogan that felt a little embarrassing for a veteran army to shout. However, when hunting a large monster like the Hydra, moving exactly as they had pre-trained was more critical than anything else.
"Lances!"
At Eugene's cry, Haind and the tribal knights received their lances from their respective squires.
These were unlike the ordinary spears the knights of this era used on the battlefield. They were over five meters long and weighed more than ten kilograms. They were far larger than the ones used in tournaments.
The lance tips were coated thickly with a sinister, deep green liquid. It was a potent coagulant poison for large reptile monsters, concocted by the tribal witches.
Behind the knights, Cassandra and her female warriors stood ready, mounted on two-horse chariots and armed with staff slings.
"Attack from maximum range. It's fine if you miss, but do not approach recklessly."
"Understood!"
As Cassandra rendered her military salute, the female warriors raised their staves high with a unified war cry.
At the end of each hung a large sling. A staff sling allowed the use of both hands and could hurl a projectile far heavier than a mere sling-stone.
At the feet of the women aboard the chariots lay explosive calabash jugs, commissioned from the Alchemy Guild.
"Charge, forward!"
"Goddess Vanas! Protect your servants!"
"It is time to add another glorious deed!"
At Eugene's command, the knights galloped forth with magnificent vigor.
Banners of House Meyer fluttered midway up the lances raised toward the sky. That majestic sight was seared into the minds of the routed city subjugation force.
End
ⓒ Gusojae#1wecx