Chapter 60
Allen hoisted the White Deer onto his back by sheer force. With extra Beast E cards, his Attack was over 300, but the full weight of the White Deer pressed down on him.
(I-I’m going to throw my back out.)
It was incredibly heavy.
Even after Allen had drained its blood and lightened it a little, the White Deer on his back still weighed 800 kilograms. His small body couldn’t lift it completely, so its hindquarters dragged along the ground. Its head and neck were long and extended horizontally, and it had horns, too. Its head drooped, and its horns scraped along the ground.
Allen didn’t care. He dug his feet into the ground beneath the snow and began trudging forward with all his strength.
(This is bad. I have to get back before the sun sets.)
As he walked, he worried about the sun going down.
He usually ran wherever he went, but walking took quite a while.
With the setting sun shining over the silvery-white landscape, he made his way toward the city. When he spotted the gate, he realized something was wrong. There was a commotion.
“A White Deer is coming!”
From the side, it looked like nothing more than a White Deer with its head drooping as it slowly approached. Allen was completely hidden beneath it, and barely visible to anyone around him.
The other gate guards shouted, wondering what was going on. He couldn’t see clearly, but there seemed to be at least five of them. Visibility was terrible.
“Hello, gate guards!”
He called out a little louder to make himself known. He didn’t want them shooting him with arrows.
“Y-young master?”
“Yes. Could you let me through the gate?”
“W-what’s going on?”
He could only hear their voices, but they sounded extremely wary.
“By order of the Granvelle family, I’ve captured a White Deer. Here—”
He told them there was no problem and asked them to let him through, continuing to move forward. Even so, someone approached, so he thrust out his crest from beneath the White Deer. That seemed to end the argument, and they let him through the gate.
He passed through the gate and continued along the stone pavement. The sun was about to set. It had taken him the entire day just to kill one monster.
He headed for the mansion’s large main gate. There was no way the White Deer would fit through the back gate.
“Good evening.”
“A-Allen, is that you?”
The gate guard at the mansion was someone Allen knew. Apparently, he recognized Allen by his voice alone. Allen told him the White Deer wouldn’t fit through the back gate and asked him to let them in. “O-okay,” the guard replied, clearly terrified, as he opened the gate wide.
Allen continued into the garden.
(All right, first I should report that I’ve captured it.)
“Eeeeeeeeeek!”
A maid was the first to notice him. A scream rang out from the second floor. The maid’s legs gave way, and she desperately pointed outside. The other servants looked out the windows, wondering what had happened. The commotion grew louder and louder.
“A monster’s gotten inside!”
“Servants, get your weapons! Call the knights!”
(Oh, no. This has turned into a whole thing.)
Allen had thought he could explain things to the servants who came out of the mansion, but when they started arming themselves, he hurried to respond. With the White Deer on his back, Allen couldn’t be seen from above. He lowered it onto its side, making himself visible.
(Man, it was heavy. At this level, it’s tough to carry one by myself.)
THOOOM!
The White Deer hit the garden with a rumble. It was so heavy that the soil rippled beneath its weight.
The people peering down from the second floor and those who’d come out of the mansion all froze.
No one could speak. Their minds couldn’t keep up with what was happening. They’d seen a white monster slowly come through the gate, only for Allen to appear beneath it.
Some had never seen a monster before and had gone weak at the knees; others simply stared in shock. Amid all that,
“A-Allen?”
The butler came out into the garden to see what was going on.
“Yes, it’s Allen. I’ve returned. At young master Tomas’s command, I’ve successfully captured a White Deer.”
Since he’d caused a commotion, Allen quickly offered an excuse. He’d only followed an order, after all. He made sure to emphasize Tomas’s name as much as possible.
The butler gave a start, as if he’d remembered something. It was the conversation at dinner a few days ago. No one had taken it seriously; they’d simply let it pass. But Allen hadn’t said he’d try if he could. He’d calmly declared that he would bring one back.
The butler’s hair had long since turned white, and he was nearing sixty. He’d thought there was nothing left that could surprise him, but ever since Allen had arrived, the common sense he’d built up over the years had been crumbling away.
As he desperately tried to keep himself from crumbling along with it,
“W-what is all this? What’s with the commotion?!”
Baron Granvelle came out, too. “W-what is...” He trailed off and froze in the doorway just like the others. He was in the same state as the butler.
“What’s all the fuss about? It’s so noisy!”
This time, the head chef came out of the first-floor kitchen, speaking in his usual rough manner. It was almost time for dinner.
“Th-this is a White Deer!”
The head chef approached, trembling with excitement. He might never have seen an entire White Deer before.
“I drained its blood, but I haven’t done anything else to prepare it.”
Allen explained this to the head chef.
“I see. So you’ve done the bare minimum. We’d better remove the organs right away. Hey, Buns! What are you doing? Get over here! Everyone else, get dinner ready!”
The head chef was the only one who saw this as food rather than a terrifying monster. He didn’t seem concerned about the commotion at all.
He called over Buns, one of the cooks, and had him bring a magical lamp and something like a large saw. It seemed they were going to butcher it right there. The head chef and Buns left the other cooks and maids to their work and started preparing the White Deer.
“In that case, I’ll help, too. It’s very heavy.”
“Oh? You will?”
Allen said he’d be happy to. It wasn’t because butchering it looked difficult. And it wasn’t because, since it was his day off, he didn’t have to help serve dinner.
He wanted to retrieve the Magic Stone. He’d made an agreement with the butler, so he’d hand over the meat, but he had no intention of giving up the Magic Stone. He’d quietly retrieve it while they butchered the animal. He’d also removed the Magic Stones from every Horned Rabbit before handing them over. The White Deer’s Magic Stone was still inside it, so he needed to get it out.
At the chef’s instructions—hold this, then take that side—Allen replied, “Understood,” and busied himself lifting its legs and supporting its neck. The enormous animal was too large to bring into the kitchen, so of course they had to butcher it in the garden.
The gardener stood frozen, looking devastated as blood and meat ruined his beautiful garden.
Amid the chaos, the baron spoke to the butler.
“What is going on here, Sebas? Did you properly investigate Allen?”
“W-what? You said there was no need to investigate further because he had no talent and low stats. I haven’t looked into him since then.”
Sebas protested that the baron shouldn’t blame him for this.
“Y-you fool! How can you say he has no talent? He hunted a C-rank monster at eight years old! Investigate him properly!”
“Y-yes, sir. Then, when the next messenger from the village arrives...”
Sebas couldn’t finish. The baron glared at him with sharp, hawk-like eyes.
“I apologize. I’ll send a messenger to Krena Village to investigate tomorrow.”
As butler, Sebas had wanted to wait until the next village messenger arrived. Sending someone out with all this snow on the ground would cost more than usual, and the round trip to the village alone took ten days. Besides, more Boar meat was expected to arrive from the village before long.
Cecil watched the commotion from a distance, looking exasperated. The person who’d made the request came out of the mansion, too. Dinner was no longer anyone’s concern.
“A Deer!!!”
Tomas came out into the garden, saw the White Deer, and cheered at the sight of all that meat. He dashed toward it, but the maid who looked after him desperately held him back.
Allen noticed Tomas had come out.
“Young master Tomas, I’ve captured a White Deer.”
He bowed to Tomas as he reported this.
“Yeah, thank you!”
And so Allen brought back a White Deer. By order of Baron Granvelle, Allen’s activities in Krena Village would now be thoroughly investigated.