Chapter 69
About a month had passed since Allen took his magic lesson. December had begun, and the first snow had fallen just recently. It looked like the snow would soon start piling up in earnest.
Today was one of Allen’s serving days. Since it was lunch, the meal was fairly simple. In the evening, everyone gathered for dinner. The whole family sometimes wasn’t together for breakfast or lunch, but today the entire baronial household was having lunch together.
“Come now, Thomas. Don’t eat so much.”
The Baroness chided Thomas, Cecil’s older brother.
Allen had become a gamekeeper at the end of last December, and ever since then, he’d hunted twice a week almost without fail.
As a result, he caught nearly a hundred kilograms of game over the course of his two weekly hunts. Now that winter had arrived, the only monsters he saw as hunting targets were Horned Rabbits, but even those added up to quite a lot.
The Granvelle household’s meals, which had been rather modest until a year ago, had improved—even for the servants.
If there was one problem, it was that Thomas ate quite a lot, and the Baroness worried he was eating too much. Allen had often seen her go directly to the head chef and ask him to cut back on Thomas’s portions.
Today, because his portions had been reduced, Thomas took extra bread from the basket in the middle of the table and was reprimanded. He apologized, but made no move to put the bread back in the basket.
(Well, he’s eleven, so he’s still growing. I don’t see why he shouldn’t eat that much, especially since he practices swordsmanship during the day.)
While serving, Allen watched Thomas look dejected after being scolded and thought to himself. Thomas had started swordsmanship lessons this year. They’d hired a sword instructor to teach him in the garden. From the occasional practice session Allen had seen, he wondered if mastering swordsmanship was a noble’s duty, regardless of whether they had talent.
“Hey, Allen. When are you going to catch another White Deer?”
Thomas spoke to him.
“Let’s see. I was thinking I’d look for one once a little more snow has fallen.”
Thomas told him he was looking forward to it. Allen had thought this would be an ordinary lunch at the Granvelle household, but then...
Clang, clang, clang, clang!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Clang-clang-clang-clang!
The town bell rang over and over. Its sound echoed through the mansion and showed no sign of stopping. The noon bell had rung only a little while ago; it wasn’t time for the bells to ring again.
“W-what’s going on?!”
Baron Granvelle stood up. The Baroness and Thomas looked worried, too. The bell kept ringing, and its unceasing sound made everyone there anxious.
“I’ll go find out.”
The butler, who had been standing beside the Baron, left the dining room. Everyone waited for him to return. Allen was among them, waiting to hear what was going on.
About fifteen minutes later, the butler returned. A knight stood beside him.
“What is it?!”
“We’ve been informed that a Murder Garsh is approaching the town.”
The butler answered the Baron’s question. The knight beside him nodded emphatically, gasping for breath.
(A Murder Garsh?!)
Allen reacted to the name. He’d heard it was a B-rank monster resembling a massive wolf. It was the monster his younger brother Mash had been named after.
“What?! Why wasn’t I informed sooner?! When will it arrive?!”
The Baron fired off one question after another. The knight who’d come with the butler knelt and answered him.
A knight patrol had spotted it. It was heading straight for Granvelle. They’d tried to lure it away from the town, but failed, and several knights had been killed on the spot. The monster was coming from the south, so at this rate, it might reach the town’s south gate.
It was expected to reach Granvelle very soon, sometime after three. They had less than two hours.
“My lord, what are your orders?”
“What about Zenof? Hasn’t he returned yet?”
“My lord, the Knight Commander and Vice Commander are away hunting monsters. They won’t be back for another two days.”
The Baron must have known the Knight Commander was away. “I see. As I thought,” he replied.
“Send an emergency request to the Adventurers Guild. It’s winter, so there should be plenty of adventurers in town. I hope the Silver Fangs of the Gale are here.”
(The Silver Fangs of the Gale... Aren’t they the only A-rank adventurer party in town?)
A group of adventurers was called a party. Raven, Rita, and Milsy were also in an adventurer party. Raven was its leader, and they were a C-rank party.
From what Raven had told him, most of the adventurers in town were C-rank or lower. There were a few B-rank parties, but the Silver Fangs of the Gale were the only A-rank party.
It was December, and winter had set in. Adventurers apparently took it easy in town. They didn’t go out of their way to hunt until the snow melted around March, unless they were desperate for money. Allen was probably the only one who hunted as usual through the winter.
“Y-yes, right away. What about the gates?”
While Allen recalled what Raven had told him about adventurers, the butler asked for instructions on one matter after another.
“The people coming to town won’t know a Murder Garsh is approaching. What good would closing the gates do?!”
“But it might enter the town, my lord.”
“Do not close the gates. Order the knights and adventurers to drive the Murder Garsh away from the town.”
“Understood.”
Having received all the orders he needed, the butler left the dining room with the knight who had accompanied him. He had to hurry and relay the instructions to the relevant departments.
Allen watched the exchange without saying a word. He waited until the conversation between the Baron and the butler had reached a stopping point.
(This is my job.)
“My lord, may I go outside the gates as well?”
“Hm?”
Allen had asked as if it were obvious, and the Baron looked at him as if to ask what he meant.
“What?! What are you talking about? You heard what they said! A Murder Garsh is out there! There’s no way you can go!”
“Lady Cecil.”
“W-what?!”
“Baron Granvelle entrusted me with the work of gamekeeper. I believe this is the moment my work has come.”
“Huh?!”
Cecil was surprised by Allen’s words, but Allen considered it part of his gamekeeper duties.
• Hunt monsters and obtain meat.
• Help people in trouble with monsters outside the town.
For the past year, Allen had fulfilled his duties as a gamekeeper. He’d hunted monsters and obtained meat, and he’d helped people and adventurers in trouble when monsters attacked them.
If today had been a gamekeeper day, he would have gone outside the town without asking the Baron for permission. Protecting the people from monsters was his job. But today was a serving day, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t a day for his gamekeeper duties. That was why he was asking the Baron for permission.
Cecil fell silent, so Allen turned back to the Baron. The Baron said nothing, lost in thought. Allen continued to plead with his eyes for permission.
“...I see, Allen. You are a member of House Granvelle. If you intend to fulfill the position I gave you, I have no reason to stop you.”
Cecil started to say something, but swallowed her words. The Baron’s voice was low and weighty. Allen’s reasoning made sense, too, and she seemed to have barely managed to keep herself from objecting.
“Yes. Then I’ll be off. Since it’s urgent, I’ll go as I am.”
Allen meant to go in his footman’s uniform.
“Very well. Do not engage the Murder Garsh. Prioritize evacuating the people.”
“Understood.”
Allen replied, left the dining room, and immediately broke into a run.
(There’s not much time. The town’s in this state, so the streets might be too chaotic to get through. I’ll leave through the gate in the noble quarter and circle around to the south gate.)
Allen was on the north side of town. It would have been much quicker to head south along the main road running through the center of town. But in this situation, the center and south might be in chaos. He decided it would be faster to leave through the north gate and circle around the town.
(I’m out of Magic. Hurry up and recover!)
Nearly three hours ago, he’d used up all his Magic and converted it into Skill EXP. He’d thought he wouldn’t need reserve Magic on a day without a hunt and hadn’t anticipated anything like this. At present, Allen had zero Magic.
He passed through the north gate, then continued running even faster in his black footman’s uniform.
A little under two hours later, he reached the south gate by taking the route outside the town. The gate was overflowing with travelers lined up in a queue.
The crowd was desperately trying to get through the south gate.
Groups of adventurers could be seen nearby. There were groups of knights, too. They seemed to be protecting the crowd.
A little way from the town, beyond those groups, stood a massive shape over five meters tall. It seemed to be clutching something large: a headless horse—or rather, a horse with no upper body at all. It was devouring the horse with loud crunching sounds.
(That’s the Murder Garsh!)
He’d heard it was a wolf-shaped monster. But it looked nothing like a wolf. It had a face like a human-faced dog. Its hands were large enough to hold a horse, with humanlike fingers. Its arms looked human, too. Its lower body was definitely that of a wolf, with thick wolfish legs and a tail.
Beside the Murder Garsh devouring the horse was a carriage, tilted to one side with a wheel missing.
Looking closely, it was clear which direction the Murder Garsh had come from. Countless gruesome corpses of horses and people were scattered along its path, forming a trail of blood.
Murder meant slaughter, and this monster lived up to its name.
“Hey, boy! What are you doing there?! Evacuate, quickly!”
One of the knights had noticed Allen and called out to warn him. But Allen was watching the Murder Garsh’s movements. The horse it was eating belonged to a carriage.
There were people inside the carriage that had lost its horses. He could see several figures.
The Murder Garsh casually reached out with its free hand and tore away the cloth covering the top of the carriage.
“!”
An adult and children were huddled together inside the carriage, trembling. They seemed too terrified even to scream. A mother was there, desperately clutching her child.
The Murder Garsh twisted its face into a sinister grin.
The knights and adventurers seemed focused on protecting the merchants and travelers entering the gate. No one was trying to rescue the people in the carriage. But none of that entered Allen’s field of vision.
Allen took an iron ball from Storage and clenched it in his hand.