Chapter 4. The Catalyst (3)
ROOOOOAAAAAR–!
Even before the sound reached them, the first person to react was none other than Klein.
At only seventeen years of age, Klein sensed the dense killing intent erupting from the distant mountain before anyone else.
At once, he grabbed the sword propped against one side of the room and rushed outside.
A little slower than Klein, but still the fastest among the knights to respond, was Layerd, the Knight Commander who had escorted them this far.
“Young Master!”
“Yes.”
The two understood the situation without needing to exchange any further words.
A Dungeon Wave.
Of course, Klein had never experienced one before.
He could count on one hand the number of times he had fought monsters in actual combat.
Even so, Klein trusted his exceptional instincts and immediately grasped and accepted the situation.
“We need to evacuate the villagers first.”
“Understood, Young Master. Everyone, you heard him! Evacuate the villagers, then assemble immediately at the eastern side of the village!”
“Yes, sir!!”
The knights who had emerged a moment later hurried outside, and Shane walked out behind them.
“Klein.”
“Brother.”
“It is a Dungeon Wave.”
“……That is correct.”
A brief flash of surprise appeared in Klein’s eyes, as though he had not expected his brother to recognize it immediately.
It was not because he looked down on Shane.
Rather, it was because Shane was astonishingly calm.
“What will you do?”
Klein hesitated briefly at Shane’s question.
The brother he had known before would have tried to seize command before asking Klein anything.
Klein respected his brother, but even the slightest delay could allow the monsters to devastate the village.
Was this really a situation in which he should defer to his brother?
The thought crossed his mind.
But Klein quickly cast it aside and carefully answered Shane’s question.
“If the battle takes place inside the village, the damage will likely be severe. So I intend to strike them first together with Knight Commander Layerd.”
“Do so. I will leave command to you.”
Even Layerd could not hide his surprise at Shane’s calm response.
He had not expected Shane to accept the decision so easily either.
And Shane had even handed command over to Klein.
Strictly speaking, true command belonged to Layerd as the Knight Commander, but he knew Klein’s abilities well enough that he had no intention of insisting on taking charge himself.
“However, leave five knights behind. I will remain here and protect the village.”
“……Understood.”
It was closer to an order than a request, but Klein accepted it without complaint.
They needed to leave behind some reserve forces to defend the village, and there were few members of the village militia capable of withstanding the Monster Fear that had echoed from the distance.
“Then, Brother, I will be going.”
“Very well. Return safely.”
At Shane’s words, both Klein and Knight Commander Layerd visibly flinched.
But they soon departed.
For now, bringing this disturbance to an end as quickly as possible was far more important than analyzing every little change in Shane’s behavior.
—
The moment the Monster Fear rang out, Wayton’s mercenary company rushed toward the lodgings where their employer was staying.
Outside, the knights of House Clayton were already fully armed and moving about in a frenzy.
The knights projected their voices with mana as they ordered the villagers to evacuate.
“Damn it. This is embarrassing…….”
At that moment, Wayton’s eyes met those of the merchant company head, who had just emerged from the lodging, and Wayton waited for his instructions.
“Urgh, Captain Wayton. What should we do?”
“Surely what you want is something other than dealing with this Wave, sir?”
“Ahem! Indeed.”
The merchant company head rather liked how perceptive Wayton was.
Wayton’s actual skill was only slightly above the average mercenary, but when it came to reading his employer’s mood and acting accordingly, he was among the best.
At just the right moment, Wayton stopped one of the knights and asked about the situation.
“Sir Knight! Are you heading outside the village to subjugate the monsters?”
The knight frowned briefly, but after taking in Wayton’s attire, his expression relaxed.
“Yes. We are going out with the Knight Commander.”
“Will your current forces be enough? What if some of the monsters avoid your formation and head toward the village……?”
“Do not worry about that. Five of us will remain behind.”
At the knight’s answer, Wayton’s mind began working rapidly.
‘Let me see. I heard the second young master is stronger than most Knight Commanders. In that case, he is bound to join the subjugation force.’
Having finished his calculations, Wayton spoke again.
“Ah! Then would you allow us to assist you on the front line?”
“Hmm…… Is that really necessary?”
More manpower was certainly an advantage, but the knight wondered whether they truly needed to borrow the mercenaries’ strength.
After all, there was someone he trusted that much.
Reading the knight’s expression, Wayton quickly continued.
“Still, if the monsters spread across too wide a front, some could reach the village. I may not look like much, but I have spent more than ten years on battlefields. I have also survived several Dungeon Waves. We will help without getting in your way.”
“Then come to the eastern guard post in five minutes. We will not wait if you are late, and if our commander refuses permission, you will withdraw.”
“Of course.”
The knight hurried away again, and Wayton approached the merchant company head standing behind him.
“The second young master will almost certainly be among those heading outside. I will make sure we stay within his sight as much as possible. What happens after that is up to you. Understood?”
“Hehehe, Wayton. I knew you were a man worth keeping by my side.”
“You flatter me.”
Wayton was just about to call over his comrades, who were finally beginning to sober up, when—
“C-Captain Wayton.”
“Hmm? Alex. What is it? You heard that roar too. Why are you standing around instead of helping evacuate people?”
“If…… If possible, could I go with you?”
“What?”
The hearty smile Wayton usually wore vanished, and he growled fiercely.
This was a real battlefield.
It was no place for some green brat to stick his neck out merely because he found life in the countryside boring and wanted to leave the village.
Seeing Wayton’s expression, Alex hurriedly explained himself.
“I know! I know I am asking too much. But this is still the place where I was born and raised. If I run away even when my own home is in danger, how could an idiot like that ever survive in the outside world?”
“Stop talking nonsense and evacuate the villagers. That is how you help your home. Understand?”
“They are already evacuating……! I swear I will not get in the way. Captain Wayton!”
What was he supposed to do with this fool?
Would smashing Alex’s nose with one punch convince him to stay behind?
Wayton was about to raise his fist with precisely that intention when—
“I will never ask you to help me. I just want to see it with my own eyes. The outside world…….”
“……Tch.”
Wayton stared into Alex’s eyes.
They were filled with fear.
They were the eyes of a fledgling entering a battlefield for the first time, the sort Wayton had seen countless times before.
But there was also a determination to resist that fear.
They were eyes that even Wayton himself had not possessed when he first stepped onto a battlefield.
“If you die, do not blame me.”
“Th-Thank you!”
As Wayton turned away, his eyes happened to meet those of a young man emerging from the lodging.
At a glance, the boy could not yet have been twenty.
He had long black hair that hung loosely down his back.
Dressed in clothing that anyone would recognize as belonging to a noble, the young man briefly looked at Wayton with roseberry-colored eyes before turning away.
‘Is that the eldest son of House Clayton everyone talks about?’
Wayton had heard that he was a noble who envied his younger brother’s talent and possessed nothing but ambition despite lacking ability.
‘I would rather avoid getting involved with him if I can.’
Not every noble was like that, of course, but crossing paths with one who had no ability yet flaunted his authority was a fine way to die young.
Hadn’t Wayton heard that the leader of another nearby mercenary company had once disappeared without a trace after offending such a noble?
‘Still, if he is not going to the front, I probably will not have to deal with him.’
—
‘Where have I seen him before?’
Shane fell briefly into thought as he watched the backs of the departing knights, Wayton, and Alex.
Shane did not know Alex’s name or who he was, but there was something strangely familiar about his face.
Was it because Shane had visited this village before?
No.
He had seen the villagers and even the village chief in his previous life, but he remembered none of their faces.
It would be absurd if he somehow remembered an ordinary member of the village militia when he could not even remember the chief.
‘Perhaps I met him much later.’
Not now.
Far in the future.
They probably had not met on good terms.
After all, it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that Shane had not been on good terms with anyone in his previous life.
At that point, Shane lost interest in Alex.
One of the knights, Rodwill, approached him.
“Young Master. Should we not set up some defenses around the village?”
“I do not think that will be necessary.”
“Pardon?”
“And pull the mercenaries back to guard the villagers. They will not be of much use here.”
In the end, the mercenary company had not been permitted to accompany the Knight Order.
The only ones who followed the knights were Wayton, who would serve as a messenger, and Alex, a villager familiar with the surrounding terrain.
The rest of the mercenaries remained behind to protect the villagers.
“……Understood.”
Rodwill looked puzzled for a moment, but he did not say anything further.
There was little to gain from contradicting the prideful Shane, and in truth, it did not appear that the village itself would be placed in immediate danger.
Having easily guessed what Rodwill was thinking from his expression, Shane spoke quietly.
“In your judgment, what creature did that Fear belong to?”
Rodwill tilted his head at the sudden question before answering.
“It was a troll’s Fear.”
“Correct. And it was a Fear thick with killing intent.”
“Yes.”
Shane continued.
“There is a common misconception people have about trolls. They think trolls possess nothing but extraordinary regeneration and brute strength.”
“……Do they have something else?”
From Rodwill’s perspective, it might have sounded ridiculous for Shane, who had never even encountered a troll, to speak as though he knew them so well.
Even so, Rodwill humored him.
“Trolls are intelligent monsters. They are also capable of laying traps and conducting ambushes.”
“Traps……?”
The trolls Rodwill knew were monsters that overwhelmed their enemies with absurd regenerative abilities and enough strength to shatter boulders with a single blow.
A creature like that could actually think well enough to set traps?
“Would a wolf fight with all its strength to catch a rabbit?”
“…….”
That was true enough.
To a troll, knights might present a challenge, but ordinary people were little more than easy prey.
“Even trolls living in the wild do not reveal themselves carelessly. They observe their enemies and only use their strength once they determine that they can win. Or, if they judge that they cannot win outright, they employ tactics of their own, such as ambushes.”
Rodwill had fought trolls several times before, but this was the first he had ever heard of such behavior.
Without realizing it, he became absorbed in Shane’s explanation.
“That is why trolls do not unleash Monster Fear without reason. If they do use it, it is usually against prey. And even then, it is not thick with killing intent like the one we heard earlier. It is merely meant to freeze the prey in place.”
“Then what was that troll’s Fear just now?”
“There are only two circumstances in which a troll unleashes a Fear filled with killing intent. One is when it faces a large number of enemies. The other is……”
“…….”
“When it abandons its post as a sentry and becomes a hunter for the sake of its master.”
Its master?
A troll?
A monster notorious for not forming packs had a master?
Rodwill tilted his head in confusion.
Shane said nothing more and instead turned his gaze toward the distant mountainside.
Faint flashes of mana flickered in the distance, accompanied by shouts.
They were signs that the battle had begun.
