Chapter 21
A pouch filled with gold coins.
This scene had occurred in the game, too.
It was an event in which Barie handed Elena the penalty fee and suggested that I terminate my contract with Lisette.
'So I get to receive this myself.'
I set down my glass.
"May I hear your reason first?"
Barie's expression did not change.
Her eyes, visible beneath her silver hair, merely stared down at me.
"Is there any need for you to hear the reason?"
Barie shot back coldly.
"I will personally mine the materials for the equipment the young lady will wear on her birthday. Do not get in my way."
Collecting the Red Materials was part of my contract with the lord, so I couldn't terminate it, but the condition Lisette had added was different.
The condition Lisette had added was that I would have control over Barie on Red Moon days.
Barie evidently wasn't pleased with that.
The gold coins gleamed softly on the table.
"That's quite a lot."
"Isn't the right to control me naturally worth a great deal?"
"Very well."
I took the pouch of gold coins.
"It's nice that you understand so quickly."
"However, I have just one thing to say."
"What is it?"
Strictly speaking, this wasn't contract termination.
It was merely a trick exploiting a loophole in the conditions.
Even if I were found out, I wouldn't suffer any consequences unless Barie refused to turn a blind eye.
Though Barie was a knight, she was also a noble. She was even close to Lisette, so any punishment would be minor.
'Besides, given her personality, if she got caught, she'd proudly brag that this was the extent of her loyalty.'
She was troublesome, but one of the few people whose word I could trust without question.
"Since I'll be collecting top-grade materials, it could be very dangerous indeed. If I deem it dangerous, I'll intervene."
"Hmph. That won't happen."
"I'm talking about more than just a matter of strength. That includes finding the way as well."
Barie nodded, saying, "If it's finding the way, I suppose it can't be helped."
"Also, we can't afford to waste time, so you'll have to ignore any other prey until we reach our destination."
"Why is that?"
"It's quite a distance. It won't matter once we have the material, but until then, please ignore everything else. Don't you want to obtain top-grade material for the young lady?"
Barie thought it over, then nodded.
"Good. It will touch the young lady's skin, so naturally it must be prepared from the finest materials. But what are you targeting that makes you so confident?"
"It's difficult to explain in words, but you'll be satisfied once you see it."
***
Time passed, and the day arrived.
The sun began to rise.
The light driving away the darkness and illuminating the world wasn't warm sunlight. Instead, a blood-red gaze looked down upon the world.
The Red Moon, which completely obscured the sun, was neither bright nor dark.
I waited for someone on the street in front of the city gate.
The area around the city gate was deserted.
On days when the Red Moon rose, hardly anyone went about, even inside the city.
Merchants, adventurers, and even the guards shut themselves inside their rooms. Some still exercised in the parade ground or swung their swords, but they were rare enough to count on one hand.
The soldier standing guard at the gate was the youngest, saddled with the duty by a senior.
The soldier was terrified under the Red Moon's gaze.
'The Red Moon.'
In the game, it was an event that came every month in terms of in-game time.
Monsters all became ferocious, and even rare species that were normally difficult to find crawled out from deep in the forest; the danger was high, but so were the rewards.
The dungeon where the magic sword was sealed was one of them.
That's why I had Phila prepare equipment for conquering that dungeon, and it had been completed at better quality than I'd expected.
'And bringing Elena along as well next month would be just right.'
Just then, I heard footsteps.
Metal scraped against metal, producing harsh clanking footsteps.
"As promised, you're out here. I heard commoners have no sense of time."
Barie was wearing full plate armor.
She even wore a helmet.
With the helmet on, she looked different enough that I might not have recognized her at first.
Clad in silver-white armor, she walked out through the city gate.
On Red Moon days, she grumbled that her horse was in poor condition, which was why she had come on foot.
Her gaze turned toward the Red Moon hanging in the sky.
"It's hideously red."
The corners of Barie's lips twitched faintly.
She was looking forward to finally showing off her skills in the Red Forest.
She was thrilled that she could personally gather the materials to be used for the young lady's birthday present.
She suppressed her smile, determined to maintain solemnity as both a knight and a noble.
....
"Eck, I'll leave the guiding to you."
As the guide, I headed toward the forest.
***
The leaves of the trees forming the forest absorbed the red light and turned dark crimson.
A thin mist lay over the grass, and the dew beaded on the blades was red like drops of blood.
It was a different place from the forest as it normally was.
Even the sounds were different.
The birdsong had stopped.
There were no insect sounds, either.
Grrr.
In the silence, only the faint sound of a beast crying out echoed from beyond the underbrush.
No sooner had the sound reached us than a black-maned wolf burst through the brush and charged.
As the wolf charged fiercely, baring its teeth, Barie's sword slipped between them and cleaved it in two.
Slash!
The wolf's corpse rolled across the ground in two halves.
"Leave the monsters to me. Don't slow your pace; keep moving forward."
"I'll leave them to you."
Seen like this, she seemed truly dependable.
The deeper we went into the forest, the thicker the red mist became.
Visibility shrank as well.
It wasn't long before we could no longer see more than a few meters ahead.
Footsteps sounded beyond the mist.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The footsteps of something charging toward us, crushing the grass beneath its heavy weight.
"Graaah!"
An orc charged out of the mist.
Its mouth foamed white, and its eyes were completely red, as though blood vessels had burst across the whites.
Driven mad by the Red Moon, it raised the ax in both hands high overhead.
The moment it brought the ax down, Barie leaped forward and blocked its path.
Drawing her sword and cutting were one fluid motion.
The orc's head shot upward, spouting red blood.
The orc's body failed to land in a proper stance, toppled forward, and rolled noisily across the ground.
Barie shook the blood from her sword and looked beyond the mist.
Thud-thud-thud.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
"Don't stop. Keep moving forward."
"Pardon me."
Just as she said, I ignored the orcs and proceeded toward our destination.
***
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The earth twisted as though splitting open, and clods of dirt shot upward.
A massive arm rose through the mound, tearing up and snapping the tree roots that had hardened the ground and pushing aside the dirt. It was an arm with green skin and dark-red veins bulging beneath it. Then a troll lifted its head.
The dead troll was granted flesh by the Red Moon's power and awoke with a roar.
"Kroaaak!"
The giant's hand clenched with rage and lashed out at the race of humans that had killed it.
Barie moved.
Sword energy gathered along the blade.
A silver streak spread along the blade, its afterimage tracing an arc as it severed the green hand. The slash traveled straight up the arm, and
Slash!
At the end of the slash, the troll's head fell.
The head, severed from the torso, rolled into the red mist, while the troll's bulk collapsed, unable to pull even half its body out of the ground.
The miniboss-level troll died in a single stroke.
The knight's offensive power was formidable.
But Barie's shoulders heaved, and her breathing grew ragged.
The tip of her sword trembled faintly.
Each time she exhaled, white breath escaped through the gaps in her helmet.
We had faced no small number of monsters on the way here. The monsters, driven into a red frenzy and strengthened, grew more powerful the deeper we went into the forest.
The monsters charged us without hesitation as soon as they spotted us.
Once B-rank monsters began appearing, Knight Barie's breathing grew ragged.
'Even for a knight, this must be too much.'
A marathon that had lasted for hours on end.
How many hours had passed since we set out?
I looked away from Barie and surveyed our surroundings.
A forest blanketed in thick red mist.
Even the plants had fallen into a frenzy and undergone explosive growth, waging war with one another for nutrients and becoming denser by the second.
Even so, some things did not change.
Mountains and rivers.
I used them as landmarks to estimate our current location.
'It should be around here.'
The entrance to the dungeon where the magic sword was sealed opened only on days when the Red Moon rose.
The problem was its exact location. Reality was larger than the game's scale and differed from the game in its finer details.
Feeling my way by the terrain and landmarks, I moved forward one step at a time.
Then, at some point.
The scenery and my memories overlapped and clicked into place, like a puzzle piece fitting into an empty space.
Clang!
Barie's sword cut through the mist and grazed a shadow that had seeped into it.
A deer's head fell at my feet.
"Hah... hah... Are we there yet?"
"I've almost found it."
I stopped in front of a rock.
The rock blocking the dungeon entrance was embedded in the cliff as though buried in it.
I drew my sword.
Magic power gathered in the sword.
The magic stored in the magic sword seeped into the blade, increasing its power.
Eck's innate eye for detail met his experience, and he saw the 'grain' in the rock.
An image predicting where and how to cut it cleanly, along with the anticipated feel of the cut, overlaid my vision, and I moved my arm.
Crack!
The rock split in two.
Through the gap, a cave hidden by the rock was revealed.
The dungeon's magic, blocked by the rock, began to surge out.
"Sir! It's done...!"
"Hup!"
Barie grabbed me and leaped through the gap in the rock.