The Corpse That Bit Back
But the sea dragon seemed more than satisfied with its bait. It let out a low, deep bellow, and satisfaction was threaded through that cry.
Huh. It actually works.
Johan was genuinely impressed. He had assumed it would, of course, but seeing it in the flesh was another matter entirely. When the creature hauled itself out of the sea and set foot on the harbor bricks, even its faint glimmer of an outline vanished, blurring it into the dark. Somewhere, a man swallowed nervously hard enough to be heard.
To lose track of position against a monster. This was always the tensest part — the moment before everything began.
—You sure about this?
—Relax.
Fortunately, Galambos was there among the soldiers. A true son of the Eastern Rangers, he knew exactly how to mask a scent and set an ambush. The garrison troops and mercenaries waited at their assigned posts just as instructed, dressed only in dark padded armor as a precaution, smeared on top with the filth the harbor itself provided. Galambos was certain the monster hadn't noticed a thing.
An experienced hunter can read a quarry's mood, after all — and the creature seemed positively distracted.
My lord. It's heading your way.
Even without Galambos whispering to him, Johan had Sir Padobesi and Sir Zirto at his side. The two knights had earned credit on countless hunts thanks to their particular gift: a sense of smell several times keener than that of ordinary dog beastfolk, precise enough to pin down a target's exact position.
—It's coming.
Johan nodded. He was the youngest among them, but in sheer experience no one here could touch him — his had been deep and hard-won in ways none of them could match. He no longer feared things like this. If anything, he was so calm it made himself uneasy.
The most terrified man present, of course, was Aricu. He hung limp in his bindings, tears streaming down his face. His mouth was gagged, and the ropes around him were tight enough that all his squirming accomplished nothing. He was on the verge of collapse.
And that pitiful display apparently stoked the sea dragon's wicked appetite to a boil. The creature planted itself before Aricu and bellowed once more, carrying itself with a complacency that defied all belief in it as a cunning monster.
Just as Aricu was about to curse every soul in the city from the depths of his heart, Johan moved.
The assassin's step is silent and unseen. The knights marveled at how he closed the distance to the sea dragon without making a single sound, however lightly he had dressed for the job. That was what a knight who had felled countless monsters looked like.
Johan swung Giant Slayer sideways, straight into the sleek face the creature had thrust out toward its prey. A sound like a massive slab of rubber being hurled to the ground rang out, ugly and resonant.
WHAM!
—!
The knights watching clenched their fists. The blow had landed clean.
"Loose! Don't let it slip away!"
Fires kindled on all sides; fire arrows leveled from every quarter. Everyone who could draw a bow had one in hand. The moment the jars were thrown, every ember from the torches onward would rain down.
But the men holding those jars faltered. Something was wrong with the creature.
"...Is it dead?"
"...!"
Despite the flames and the commotion, the sea dragon hadn't moved so much as an inch.
"Doesn't matter! Burn the carcass where it lies!"
"But—"
The city guards felt differently from the mercenaries. This place was their home; their livelihood. They had accepted the fire attack because of the monster, but that didn't mean their stomachs were at ease about it. They had taken care to position everything as carefully as possible, yet once fire caught, the surrounding buildings would suffer for it. If the thing was truly dead, they had no wish to set the harbor alight.
Tsk.
Johan clicked his tongue. He hadn't accounted for the psychology of the city folk. Keeping a wary eye on the beast, he gave the order.
"Fire a crossbow at it. If it's dead, it won't move."
"Yes, sir."
Thock, thock — bolts punched into the creature's bulk. They hadn't sunk deep, but they had to hurt badly. And still it didn't stir.
"...Is it actually dead?"
"One hit? Really?"
The knights whispered in open disbelief. In the dark they couldn't see clearly, but the idea that a single blow had felled it refused to settle in their minds. Could a thing that size really go down from one swing of a warhammer?
Johan asked Karamaf.
"What do you think?"
—Grrr?
Karamaf tilted his head too. It looked dead...
A brave soldier stepped forward and waved his hand near the creature's nostril.
"It's not breathing. I believe it's dead, sir, but..."
"...Right. Then hold the fire attack for now. Better to coat its body in a measured amount and burn just that."
"My lord! Let us show the city folk that this abomination has been put down. The people of Gilsina must witness what you have accomplished!"
Boasting of one's deeds was important business — especially when the entire reason Johan had come this far was to win the hearts of the city. It was necessary to show, properly and unmistakably, who had caught the monster and what manner of monster it was. Far more useful than burning the thing to ash outright.
Not wrong, exactly. Just... unsettling.
Johan understood why. The nagging doubt was that one swing of his hammer had knocked the thing down. That was what bothered him.
The other knights, however, seemed to have already made their peace with it.
"God has guided your hand!"
"Surely it was the divine hand that struck true."
Watching them shrug it all off as a convenient miracle made Johan feel a headache coming on that hadn't existed a minute ago.
"Monster expert. Go and confirm it."
"My name is Johannya, actually..."
But Johannya scuttled over and checked all the same. Not a single wound on the creature's body — it was dead.
"It's dead."
"Is that so."
By this point Johan had decided to accept it too. The creature might simply have taken a proper hit to some vital spot...
"Still, we should cut off its head and legs—"
"My lord! Sea dragon blood is a priceless treasure. It would be far better to prepare the facilities and cut it in one proper go."
At Johannya's words, the city folk nodded along eagerly. That loathsome wizard was, for once, talking sense.
And it was undeniably true. While alive, the sea dragon was a terror; once caught, there was not a single part of its carcass worth throwing away.
"My lord. Give me one hour, and we'll have it properly bound and rendered."
"...Very well. Don't relax your guard on any account."
Dawn was already breaking. Messengers with quick feet had begun ringing the temple bells to summon the people — and those sleepless souls who'd heard the city's terror was dead had already arrived.
The sailors moved fast, throwing chains and heavy ropes over the creature until it was trussed tight and fixed in place, then hauling barrels up against it from every side. Not one drop of blood was to be spilled when the draining began.
"Good heavens. It was that big?"
"How in the world did they take it?"
"They say the Count felled it with a single swing of his weapon."
"That's supposed to make sense?"
"No, truly, that's what they're saying. Even the priest said so."
The gathered crowd murmured in astonishment. There was no siege engine lodged in the creature's hide — so what on earth could have been used to kill it? Their imaginations failed them entirely.
Aricu, meanwhile, had recovered his wind in the meantime and was holding forth.
"Behold! This is the very beast!"
"Mister Aricu! Is it true that you volunteered yourself as bait to lure it out?"
"For our city, for her honor — I swear it on my life, it is true!"
"Gods above! By the names of the Two, Aricu is truly the bravest of men!"
Watching Aricu strut before the citizens, the knights grumbled with barely contained disgust. Even the Emperor's own knights could not hold their tongues.
"Are we really to leave that man shouting when he did nothing at all?"
"He served well as bait. Let him have this much."
A man who had won the greater honor could afford to let the lesser ones pass. Word of Johan's hunt would be spreading through every corner of the city by nightfall; letting Aricu preen a little was a price worth paying.
Partuti, naturally, was glaring at Aricu with an expression like a man watching his own heart being torn from his chest. If the fire attack had been carried through, he could have claimed his share of the glory as Master of the Alchemists' Guild — and instead it had simply been waved off.
Johan suddenly thought of the dwarves and felt a twinge of pity for him.
"You'll have your due from me, so don't grieve too hard."
"My lord...! My lord! Khuh—!"
Aricu, still chattering away merrily, came before Johan and asked, "My lord! The citizens have gathered. May I give the order to begin draining the beast's blood?"
"Proceed."
"Hear me, citizens! Witness the peerless valor of Count Eitz! He showed the wrath of God to that vile monster and—"
Aricu hadn't been a councilman for nothing. Before Johan he was nothing but blunder and bluster, but he could sway a crowd with the best of orators. Every time he cried out the damages the monster had inflicted, the citizens stamped their feet; every time he recounted the tale of Johan's monster-slaying deeds, they roared.
"And now we shall take its blood as an offering to the gods! Give thanks to Count Eitz, who granted us this glory!"
Aricu raised a dagger and drove it into the sea dragon. But the hide was so thick and tough that not a drop of blood came out.
Stab, stab, stab—
"...Hey. Give me a hand here."
"Ah. Yes, sir."
Only when a guardsman came out with a shortsword and drove it in with his full weight, twisting as he did, did the blood finally begin to flow. Barrel after barrel filled up around the carcass.
Johan called Johannya over.
"Monster expert. What do you use the blood for?"
"All sorts of things. Medicine, construction materials... Once it's fully drained we'll render oil from the meat as well. That one sea dragon alone will repay all of the recent damage, with plenty to spare."
So that was why the city folk worked so hard over it, scraping and hoarding with such frugality.
I should send some to Lady Suecetleg.
He was just thinking of setting the choicest parts aside for her when Karamaf suddenly began barking.
"?"
And at that very moment, the sea dragon opened its eyes.
The creature — which had merely fainted — took in the fact that it was bound in chains, and that its entire body was being drained of blood, and flew into an apocalyptic rage.
"UAAAAAK!"
Aricu, who had been standing right by its head, became the sole target of that fury. The sea dragon snapped him up in its jaws.
"Sh-shall we shoot?!"
Galambos asked in a rush. By sheer grace of fortune, his lord had never relaxed his guard. The pots of unquenchable fire still stood in their positions all around. And the creature was bound fast — one order, and the shot would strike true without fail...
"No. Never mind."
Johan lifted his warhammer and walked back in. He had worried about the thing bolting while it could still move freely; trussed up like this, it wasn't much of a threat at all. There was no need to bother with a fire attack, either.
WHAM!
Giant Slayer smashed into its flank, and the sea dragon spat Aricu out. Johan didn't stop — he struck again, and this time the creature heaved up a mouthful of blood. As it staggered, Johan swung for the head. Once. Twice. Three times. Four...
"......"
"......"
The citizens gathered in the square were granted a full, unobstructed demonstration of exactly how their new count had killed the sea dragon. Even the drunkard who'd been insisting, 'Oh, come off it — how does anyone kill a thing like that with one hammer blow?' dropped the beer mug right out of his hand.
So that's how.
That's how he killed it!
"Shame about the head, but no matter. Any citizens hurt? Get them all pulled back just in case, and finish the work."
"...Y-yes, sir!"
If anything, the knights of House Mulck were angrier than Johan himself. The city's greed had nearly put Count Eitz himself in danger — the count who had shown them nothing but consideration. And for knights, standing idle in a moment like this was simply not knightly.
"You revolting wretches! Ignoring my lord's direct orders, running off to seize a creature on your own — those who refused the fire attack, those who refused to cut it open to spare its blood — you will answer for this, every one of you!"
"Ah— n-no, forgive us, my lord! We truly believed it was dead! I wasn't the only one who checked, I swear it!"
In any ordinary city, the guards were hired by the council and answered to the council alone. To make arrests on an outsider's orders was beyond unthinkable. But swept up in the mood of the moment, they grabbed the councilmen anyway — the atmosphere was so savage that refusing looked like it would get them torn apart by the citizens themselves.
"The wizard confirmed it was dead too!"
"No! No, I never did! I never said that!"
Johannya's lie was so convincing that for a heartbeat everyone genuinely wondered if he hadn't. So Johan, ever helpful, refreshed their memories.
"The wizard did confirm it."
"...Arrest that blasted wizard too!"
"My lord! MY LORD!! Fucking seriously?!"
An outside count was hauling councilmen off at his own whim, and not a single soul raised a voice against it. Quite the opposite — the whole square was chanting Johan's name in celebration.
Dragged away in chains, Johannya suddenly took in the mood of the city, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.
Who, looking at this, would ever believe it was the same Gilsina?