Chapter 37: First Subjugation (8)
Chapter 37: First Subjugation (8)
Eugene's mind was already running the numbers as he looked at the fallen Wendigo. Honor? Glory? He set those aside for the moment.
"Rex. Is this thing's blood and hide of any use? I heard that from mid-sized monsters upward, nothing goes to waste."
The magic stone alone should be a big one. And there had to be other ways to make money from the carcass as well.
Dangerous monsters such as yetis, minotaurs, and ogres could bring in more money from a single kill than a famous knight earned in several years.
"We've never encountered this creature before either, so I can't say. Our clan elders would likely know."
Even Rex, who always had answers for all manner of questions, scratched his head this time.
Unlike naturally occurring monsters, a Wendigo was a magical beast created through high-level sacrificial magic. They were hard enough to encounter and even harder to kill, so information on them was scarce.
"The blood of a magical beast refined through sacrificial magic differs little from that of the original animal. Even if you put it on the alchemical market, it won't fetch any special price."
"Hmm, that truly is a shame."
"What matters now is not money. You slaughtered a magical beast as powerful as a Wendigo in the blink of an eye. What greater value could there be for a knight than such glory?"
Varda looked at Eugene with a gaze of wonder. She had thought him a remarkable knight, but this far surpassed anything she had imagined.
"The mage speaks true. Such a feat would be found not in the pages of history books, but only by combing through ancient documents that record myths."
Rex agreed with Varda.
"If there's no need to collect the blood, there's no rush."
"Just looking at the horns, you could name your price. The hide will be useful as well. We shall collect and examine the carcass."
The dark elf warriors volunteered at once. Their entire clan lived as wandering warriors, and their skill at processing monster carcasses was second to none.
"If nothing else, it could serve as a deer trophy."
"A Wendigo trophy at that. If you put it on display, it will surely elevate the standing of your family."
At the sight of Eugene holding the Wendigo's head and shaking it, everyone, Varda included, laughed.
"Enough idle talk. Let's regroup as well. Rex, detach one squad of ten and send them back the way we came."
"You mean to have them gather the spoils from the large encampment we passed on the way."
"Glad you're quick on the uptake. I saw plenty of mercenary companies in the city, but yours was the only one I'd call an army."
"An honor."
Rex grinned and gestured, and immediately ten dark elves ran to the rear.
"I shall go with them. I wish to search the altar where the ritual was performed. I will look for artifacts that may be of use to you."
Varda accompanied the party as well.
The battle was over now. A hunt divided into pursuer and pursued was underway.
"Captain! We have to withdraw right now!"
"Even if we're running, shouldn't we at least form up ranks first? First, get the lads in order..."
The bandit mercenary captain, who had been trying somehow to regain control, froze in place.
"Captain?"
When Eugene, mounted on Might, came charging, even the captain threw down his weapon and fled.
The flow of the battlefield, which had been overturned by a single fearsome magical beast, was reversed once more by a single great knight.
Eugene and the men who followed him — though few in number — were the foremost experts in slaughter upon this battlefield.
Whenever the dark elves decided arrows were too valuable to waste and went to work with their curved swords, bandits fell clutching their backs and limbs.
The squire and men who had served Galia also swung their weapons savagely, venting their rage over the loss of their master.
"Kill the wicked mage!"
One of the subjugation force's mercenary captains pointed at a figure in a black robe among the bandits.
"How dare you lowborn wretches!"
The mage, realizing that all was lost, bit his forefinger and formed a seal of blood. It was a forbidden magic that poured forth a curse at the cost of his own life.
THUD!
But Eugene's thrown spear pierced his heart, and the magic scattered. The spear embedded itself in the ground, fixing the mage's corpse in midair.
"Are you planning to end this war by yourself too, Sir Knight?"
The guard captain who had been commanding at the vanguard joked with a laugh.
"You already ended one war by yourself, didn't you?"
"Pardon? What does that... Ah!"
The guard captain recalled the Hall War and let out a hearty laugh.
"I wonder if we ought to erect a statue for you in Bonyard or something of the sort."
The adjutants praised him, half in jest and half in earnest. Now that the tide had turned in a dramatic situation, all the accumulated terror and stress had been converted into euphoria in a single stroke.
'I thought it'd be a pain if the mage got away, but I worried for nothing.'
The heretic mage had been near the front in order to control the Wendigo and had no chance to slip away. Wearing a lone black robe, he stood out easily whether one sensed the aura of magic or not.
Homi searched the mage's clothes and pockets and found a purse containing three silver coins and several dozen copper coins, along with a few magical reagents. Her sense of smell made another person's pockets as transparent to her as her own.
"Let's pull back at this point. There's nothing more for us to do here."
Friendly forces had already pushed far ahead, so any further advance would only result in getting tangled up with one another.
Eugene looked down at Galia's squire and servants.
"You all carried out your roles faithfully. I'm returning the command I held temporarily. May Sir Galia rest in peace."
"It was an honor to serve under you, however briefly. Thank you once again for avenging our lord."
The squire and the other servants bowed, then ran toward the enemy position. They seemed to be heading back to the small camp to recover their lord's body and tend to the wounded.
Eugene led the dark elves back the way they had come. It was the side path leading to the altar where the sacrificial magic had been performed.
"I had no idea forest magic could do so much."
Rex could not hide his admiration.
Varda's magic had created shortcuts even where no path seemed to exist. Though it was not showy like a pyromancer's art, it held immense tactical potential.
"You're back. No problems here."
The dark elves who had spread throughout the encampment keeping watch gave military salutes.
Eugene reined in his horse before the altar. Varda was seated upon a rock, reading a book bound in beast-hide covers.
"The heretic mage has been dealt with."
"Well done."
"Is that the wretch's research tome?"
Varda nodded.
"It turns out he was a worshipper of Kalash, the God of the Hungry Brand. He was a mage and a priest at once."
"The monks will love him."
Even religious orders that recognized many gods and coexisted peacefully showed no mercy to heretics. Add wicked magic on top of that, and they would hunt him down with fire in their eyes.
"But 'God of the Hungry Brand,' you say? That title sounds a bit shabby for a god."
"It does, but that's actually a good thing for the people of this world. Kalash does not accept humans as sacrifices, you see."
"Why is that? Human sacrifice is usually the baseline for heretic gods."
"Because no matter how much he eats, he is never full. That is why he only accepts large livestock."
"...Now that I hear it again, it doesn't sound like such a bad title."
"He is still only an evil god, of course."
Varda closed the book.
The sounds of battle were drawing closer. The subjugation force seemed to have pushed into the area.
"Sir Knight, attending to the mage is important, but you should collect your share too."
Rex laid the wealth his men had plundered from the encampment before Eugene.
"You lot... already took everything, I see."
"Of course."
Every last dark elf had already pocketed anything of value. Some wore as many as five swords at their belts. True to a tribe of wanderers, hunters, and plunderers, their movements in this regard were swift.
"Still, we set aside what seems most valuable for you, Sir Knight."
"You needn't have gone so far, but I thank you."
Ritual implements wrought of gold were gathered in a bundle.
"Silver and gold have high magical conductivity. But I doubt one could use silver for wicked rituals. That is one reason heretic mages are always strapped for coin."
"So they overreach because of research funds and end up causing incidents like this? They can't receive the patronage of cities or nobles, after all."
"And so most are exposed and exterminated before they can reach a high level of mastery. The priests claim this law of the world is the providence of the gods."
Having a mage in the party kept teaching Eugene all sorts of interesting things.
"Benjin! Kray! You need not block the entrance anymore. If a bandit comes, shoot him. If it's a mercenary of the subjugation force, let him pass."
"Understood."
At Rex's command, the two dark elves stepped aside. They had already resupplied their arrows from the dead within the encampment.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm removing the curse."
Varda was wrapping the strangely shaped dagger in large green leaves. It looked much like wrapping a fish in leaves to cook it outdoors.
"It is a dagger used in the sacrificial rite, and it bears a curse."
"That is to be expected, since it was an abomination wielded by a heretic mage."
"Left like this for three days, the curse will fade. It holds some fairly useful magic, so once the purification is complete, I shall give it to you."
"What sort of magic is it?"
"A wound made with this will not easily stop bleeding. It goes beyond simply preventing clotting — it is a weapon that forcibly draws blood from other parts of the body as well, compelling hemorrhage."
"Oh! That would be useful against foes with great stamina or regenerative ability."
Eugene swallowed the words, \‘It would be useful for an ambush too.\’
"It is a somewhat sinister weapon to give a knight, but you do not seem the sort to balk at it."
Varda spoke, recalling the image of Eugene striking down the bandit knight.
"You've read me perfectly."
"Don't look so proud of that. You are an honorable knight."
Varda gave a wry smile as Eugene raised a thumbs-up.
"There's an encampment over there!"
Just then, a group of eager mercenaries came up. They saw the dark elves scattered about, smirking, and their faces fell.
"Damn."
"We're a step late."
Still, they went around collecting helmets, serviceable shields, dried provisions, daggers, and the like. After all, everything could be turned into coin. Many were stripping shoes and cloaks off the dead as well.
The guard captain came out to meet Eugene, who had descended after gathering all there was to gather.
"Had you not been here, Sir Knight, this battle would have been lost. I, too, would have been a corpse rolling about somewhere out there."
"You led the rear guard prepared to die, so this is thanks to you too. Because the formation held, I was able to take down the Wendigo much more easily. I'm grateful."
Eugene clapped the guard captain on the shoulder.
"Ah, er..."
The guard captain, overcome with emotion at the wholly unexpected praise, could not manage a reply.
"Let's get back to the camp. The smell of blood is too strong here."
'And the stench of shit, too.'
Eugene rubbed his nose and frowned.
'Does it always reek this foully when large-scale bloodshed unfolds with cold steel?'
He had naturally expected the corpses strewn everywhere to reek of blood.
But the stench of excrement was beyond his expectations — the squalid, sordid underbelly that films and epic poetry omit.
"So this is that creature."
"Just look at those horns. A minotaur's horns would be nothing by comparison."
The mercenaries marveled at the Wendigo's severed head, which dangled swaying from Eugene's saddle. Behind them, the city guards were hauling the remaining carcass on a cart.
"Sir Knight. Once we return to camp, we'll butcher the carcass immediately."
Rex spoke, his eyes glittering.
"Why not rest a while first?"
"Our hands are itching to do it, that's why. If not now, when would we ever get the chance to handle such a magical beast?"
Other monsters could be found with some difficulty by seeking out their habitats, but a Wendigo was a magical beast that required a wicked high-ranking mage's long and arduous effort to create.
"Our clan elders, too, would have only heard of such things through oral tradition — they would never have experienced it themselves. They will all envy us for having witnessed the fight up close and for having dressed the carcass."
Half of Rex's expression was reverence; the other half was anticipation for a story he could tell over drinks for the rest of his life.
"I've never even seen a monster like that."
"It wasn't a monster. It was a magical beast. He killed a magical beast summoned from hell by an evil mage."
The murmurs of passing mercenaries spread through the ranks as if contagious.
Upon returning to Bonyard, the subjugation force quietly dispersed to their respective quarters and treatment wards.
"It seems there will be no triumphal march this time?"
Everything was as usual. He was not exactly thirsting for praise and cheers, but it was puzzling nonetheless.
A battle that involved a heretic mage and a magical beast. A great victory had been won in a fight where the subjugation force had nearly been annihilated. Depending on how one viewed it, this was a glory surpassing even the Hall War, yet the city remained quiet.
"It is according to tradition. When one hero achieves great deeds in succession within a single region, a triumphal march is not held a second time."
"What an odd tradition. It sounds like there are political reasons behind it."
"There is a belief that if triumphal marches are held in succession, the gods grow jealous of that hero and take him away quickly."
"What is that? Isn't that just superstition?"
"As you say, it is mere superstition. But is it not a money-saving superstition?"
"Ah!"
A look of understanding dawned on Eugene's face.
"It is not common in our long history, but it has happened. The citizens enjoy a triumphal procession, but it is a burden on those who must organize and pay for one."
"So they used the gods as an excuse to save money and gave themselves a reason to skip it. Clever, isn't it?"
"It is the ruling class that originally creates and steers such culture. Moreover, all the knights who participated are dead, so there is no one left to raise an objection."
Eugene, Homi, and Varda were escorted to the mansion for honored guests, where they rested amid the most solicitous hospitality.
All-Conquering Knight.
Monster Slayer.
In just over a month since he had emerged into the world, two resplendent titles had been conferred upon him.
Noble ladies would speak of the All-Conquering Knight's honor with admiration, while knights spoke of it with competitive spirit and jealousy. Bards and mercenaries would fill taverns with tales of his valor in slaying a magical beast.
The name of Eugene, who had first appeared as an unknown knight, had now grown larger than the city of Bonyard itself.
In short.
The time had come for him to go out into a wider world.