The Chase (1)
The operation was only half a success.
We had driven off the monster that was trying to abduct the village chief's granddaughter—only to fall victim, whether by design or dumb luck, to a pincer maneuver.
Considering that the creature was an unrecorded species that didn't even appear in the encyclopedia, returning to the guild with just its corpse wouldn't earn us any serious reprimand, but still...
"I have nothing to say in my defense! I apologize!"
"No, Sir Knight, this wasn't your fault..."
"We should have anticipated that there might be more than one monster! What a grievous oversight on my part!"
The villagers were left speechless at the sight of Henry bowing his head into the dirt, apologizing over and over.
In a world where an absolute, unbridgeable gulf separated nobles from commoners, it was a rare thing indeed to see a noble treat someone of lower station like this.
And it wasn't even Henry's fault to begin with. No one could have predicted that there was more than one of these strange, human-abducting monsters.
Well, Henry's handling it well. The people were getting rattled.
Henry might as well have been a knight himself, working without any payment, but we were hired hands who came to resolve the commission. Getting fooled by the monster's trick with our eyes wide open was more than grounds for a scolding from the villagers.
Thanks to Henry, though, the mood had softened. Time to drive the wedge in before it closed.
I approached the village chief.
"Chief, an unfortunate and unforeseen situation has occurred—but the matter is not yet finished."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The footprints are still there, are they not? We've just had another snowfall, so they're preserved quite clearly."
"Ah! Surely not! You mean to pursue it? The forest is the creature's domain—it will be dangerous!"
"Well, we haven't resolved the case yet, so I intend to see how far our hands can reach."
There was no telling how much harsher the commissions ahead might be. I couldn't very well turn back at the first real obstacle.
So I accepted the anticipated risk and chose to continue the mission. The village chief, hearing this, seemed deeply moved.
His wrinkled jowls, long since lost their spring, trembled.
"Thank you, truly! To think you would not shy away from such thankless work..."
"It's simply what must be done. We'll pursue the creature immediately—could you prepare some provisions? We don't know how long the chase will take."
"Of course! And would you perhaps take some of our young men with you as well...?"
The chief and the villagers alike were overflowing with zeal. Apparently, seeing the monster's corpse we'd captured had made them think the case was moving along. They seemed to believe that with a little more effort, the village's peace could be restored.
But I declined the villagers' help.
...
We readied ourselves to push into the Winter Forest. We had the basic supplies already, so all that remained was to wait for the food the villagers would bring.
Noah had stepped away for a moment, saying she wanted to examine the monster's corpse.
"Hnngh... my shield. I shouldn't have taken this commission. Nothing but losses..."
"Shh. Lena, none of that. Think of how these people must feel."
"Stiww..."
Lena made a face on the verge of tears, stroking her shield, which had been seriously mangled despite the brief clash. Even accounting for it being a new shield, sulking like this in the middle of a grieving village was not a good look.
"We can repair it, so don't worry."
"Okaaay..."
Really, Lena still lacks social awareness.
I thought this as I straightened her rumpled clothes, leaving her to silently stroke her dented shield.
Having spent most of her life in the brutal slums, Lena's emotional makeup was quite unlike that of an ordinary child. What stood out most, in particular, was her obsessive attachment to things she considered her own, an almost total absence of any psychological barrier against violence, and finally, a markedly low interest in other people.
I'd once suspected she might be a psychopath, but Noah said it wasn't quite the same thing. She'd simply been neglected for so long, and seen so many lives scraping along the bottom of society, that it had shaped her that way.
Until now those traits have actually worked in her favor... but they'll need some curbing.
One careless word and we'd end up in friction with a client. And from Lena's own standpoint, growing up like this wasn't desirable either.
At least she listened well to me and Noah, so we could gradually steer her right, little by little.
As I was packing dried rations and such, brought over by the villagers, into our backpacks and mulling over the matter of Lena, Henry came up and asked, "Senior. May I ask why you declined the villagers' help? With the guns we have, their assistance would have been valuable."
"That's..."
There were several reasons. The biggest one was that the monster that had invaded the village was simply too dangerous for ordinary people to face.
It seemed to be around the lower end of Rank 7 in strength, and at that level, an average person's perception couldn't even react in time.
At my speculation, Henry went pale.
"The creatures... plural? Surely you don't mean there were more than two?"
"I don't know. But given the situation, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few more."
"Don't tell me... you suspect someone created these creatures."
"What else could it be?"
I didn't know for what purpose, but the behavior was bizarre and unnatural—abducting one person at a time, the cunning to use hostages against its enemies. And decisively, that patchwork, rag-doll body of flesh... no matter how you looked at it, it was hard to believe it was a monster in its natural state.
As if to confirm my speculation, Noah returned at just that moment and reported, "Jun, your prediction was correct. Upon examination, I found the remains of at least ten or more distinct monster species fused together. The signs of artificial construction are unmistakable. The brain is also abnormally enlarged."
"How can you even tell that...?"
"Noah's a healer. She's deeply knowledgeable about anatomy."
"Huh... wait, since when does a healer fight on the front line?"
"Noah does."
"..."
...
"Sir Knight! Honored adventurers! Please, our child!"
"At the very least, bring back her body!"
We stepped beyond the palisade to a rousing send-off from the townsfolk.
At first we followed the monster's clearly marked footprints, but they cut off abruptly at the edge of the forest. The creature must have decided it needed to cover its tracks.
But as long as Noah and I were around, such clumsy attempts were worse than nothing.
Crunch, crunch...
With Noah and me in the lead, we entered the depths of the Winter Forest. Not even the insects and grass remained to greet the winter, and the forest was utterly still.
The moon hanging pale and bright overhead, and the snow-covered conifers so common in the northern reaches, transformed the ordinary woods into something out of a fairy tale.
If only circumstances were different, this could have been a pleasant midnight stroll.
"It climbed a tree here."
"Right. I can see claw marks. It hid its footprints by moving through the trees—did it switch over to that one?"
"A branch there is slightly snapped, so yes, it would seem so."
"...You both have remarkable eyesight. I can't make out a thing."
"It's night, so that's only fair. But... Henry. Are you sure about this?"
"I'm sorry—sure about what?"
"You already know, but this isn't a simple missing-persons case."
"..."
A monster... no, let's call it a Chimera.
It shared a name with the creatures we'd seen at the research facility long ago, but for things stitched together from multiple monsters, there was no more accurate name to give.
In any case, the fact that the Chimera was artificially made implied a great many things.
"It means there's at least one power behind the scenes manufacturing Chimeras. I don't know why, but those people are abducting humans."
"...I understand the danger well enough."
"That's not all. Normally, in cases like this, they'd want to leave no witnesses—but these creatures repeat the same pattern over and over, openly hauling off one or two people at a time. Which means they've been waiting for someone like us to take the bait. It might even be a lure."
"I hadn't thought that far. Senior, did you by any chance graduate from an institution of higher learning? That's hardly ordinary reasoning."
"...You're saying it's not?"
I couldn't help but pull a sour face at Henry's admiration. Anyone with a working brain could reason this far. For a moment I wondered if he was mocking me, but Henry, as ever, was one hundred percent sincere.
Lena, it seemed, had followed along without thinking any of this through either—the look on her face said as much.
"The situation appears considerably more dangerous than I imagined. But as one who has taken up the knight's oath, I cannot turn back! Though, Senior, why do you and your companions...? You could just as easily return at this point."
"Me? Well, I figure I can handle it. Worst case, we run."
"I could manage about thirty of them, I should think."
"I just follow Unni and Ajusshi~ I don't get a say in the matter~"
"...You are all quite the amusing group."
Having heard everyone's resolve (?), Henry broke into a hearty laugh.
Seems we'd built a good impression—perhaps this would serve as a useful connection going forward? I sincerely hoped he wouldn't meet with any untimely misfortune.
...
"How far has this thing even traveled? I'm not sure we'll be able to find our way back properly."
"Don't worry, I have the route memorized."
I'd packed extra provisions just in case, but I never imagined the pursuit would stretch on like this. A full day and more of chasing, and even longer once we counted the rests in between.
Yet for all that walking, the forest still showed no end.
"It's ridiculously big. I thought it was just some woods next to a village."
"Lena. Watch your language."
"...It is rather big. Wait, you swear sometimes too, Ajusshi! Why is it just me?"
"Jun, please be mindful going forward."
"...Yeah."
So now I couldn't even curse freely. I grumbled to myself while keeping a careful eye on our surroundings.
Partway through, the Chimera's wariness seemed to have dulled—it left footprints lying about in plain sight, making the trail far easier to follow. But the constant strain of sustained focus was draining, no way around it.
"Henry, are there always this many forests around Bolston?"
"Yes. It seems that wherever a natural forest takes root, all manner of rare herbs spring up on their own... so the region makes a point of preserving them. And frankly, we lack the manpower to clear this far out, anyway."
"Why not? Isn't this a safe zone?"
I was thinking of the [Suppression Device] we'd seen in the pioneer village—the artifact that deterred monsters from approaching or manifesting. Word was that with additional processes applied, it could dramatically expand the area over which monsters were suppressed.
Naturally, one was kept deep within Bolston Castle itself, and a radius of several dozen kilometers around the fortress all fell within that device's range—in other words, a safe zone. Thanks to that, even a small village like the one raided this time could exist outside the castle walls.
Come to think of it—did the Suppression Device simply not work on artificial monsters like Chimeras?
"Even in a so-called safe zone, this is still the outside, where anything can happen at any time... who would choose to leave a safe castle? Even with every incentive thrown in, only a tiny handful make the choice to go out."
"Hmm... fair enough. Even I wouldn't go out without a reason."
"The human population is growing exponentially, yet the territory humanity expands through the Suppression Devices can't keep pace. It's difficult to say where this will lead."
"Leave that to the high and mighty. For now, the Chimera comes fir—huh?"
"What is it?"
"The trail just ended."
"Ahko! Don't stop out of nowhere!"
The Chimera's well-worn footprints had suddenly vanished, and I halted in my tracks. Lena, who'd been trudging along in a daze, buried her nose in my back in protest. I gave her a light knuckle rap, more to rebuke my own carelessness than anything.
Oops. That wasn't the point.
"Did the Chimera have hidden wings? The footprints held a consistent depth, so it can't have jumped..."
"It didn't transfer to any nearby tree either. Curious."
The point where the Chimera's footprints vanished was the lip of a small cliff. Looking down, the drop wasn't terribly high, but the ground was clearly too deep and rough to descend with bare hands.
And yet the only thing visible below was the dry bed of an old river—not a trace of the creature anywhere.
As I puzzled over the problem for a long while, Henry spoke up carefully. "Senior, I believe this is [Magic]. Illusion-type magic, at that."
"Magic?"