Chapter 41
“Damn it! They just keep coming!”
“Right side! Hold your shields steady! If the line collapses, we’ll be overrun!”
Alderin’s soldiers were forming their ranks.
This expedition was a large-scale monster subjugation campaign near the Alderin Barony.
Monster sightings had increased exponentially over the past few years.
An abnormal phenomenon unlike a one-off territorial incursion or a seasonal monster migration.
The monsters holed up in the frontier forests began pouring out as if on cue.
Their ferocity was unlike anything seen before, and the frequency with which packs ravaged nearby villages had also risen sharply.
It was more than the Alderin Barony’s own troops could possibly handle.
So the expedition was joined by the adventurers and mercenaries staying in the city, as well as Edelheid’s knights.
Among them, Edelheid’s knights were by far the strongest force.
“Rion! The right defense line’s been breached! Stop them!”
“Understood.”
The instant Lance’s order rang out, a shadow shot into the heart of the broken line.
The Alderin soldiers, terrified, clutched their shields and stumbled backward.
Just as the giant wolf monster was about to swallow the soldier whole, its head was severed and sent flying through the air.
-Slash!
“Huh...!”
The soldier’s eyes went wide.
The wolf’s head that had been thrust right in front of his face was gone. In its place, filling his vision, was a black-haired young man in an Edelheid knight’s uniform.
Before the soldier could even process what was happening, that figure shot off once more.
-Kiaaaagh!
Monster screams burst from all directions, and dark red blood sprayed through the air.
Every time a golden flash flickered, monster corpses piled up.
“W-What the hell is that……?”
“A knight…?”
Not only the soldiers of Alderin, but even seasoned mercenaries and adventurers, watched that overwhelming display of power and forgot the battle entirely.
He moved among the monsters as casually as if strolling through his own front yard, and golden, lightning-like streaks stitched the battlefield.
With the addition of just one man, the unfavorable tide of battle was instantly reversed.
-Kugugugu!
Then it happened.
A heavy tremor that shook the earth swept across the battlefield.
An oppressive pressure, as if dozens of beasts were roaring at once. The forest’s trees shattered and parted to make a path.
“W-What is that now……!”
One adventurer stepped back, face gone white.
What emerged through the billowing dust was an ancient tree so massive it seemed to blot out the forest.
It was a grotesque monster—a Blood Treant, an aberration that had guarded the forest for ages, fallen to demonic energy and soaked in blood.
-Kikikikikik!
With a grotesque creaking sound as the bark twisted, dozens of branches shot out like tentacles.
Blood-red branches, their tips sharpened like spearheads. Their target was Rion, standing in the middle of the monster corpses.
The branches rained down from all sides, enclosing him. A perfect net with nowhere to escape.
Rion faced it calmly, holding his blood-dripping sword at an angle.
-Fwoosh!
The next instant, an explosive burst of air rang out.
Rion’s figure blurred, and a streak of light flashed.
A wondrous speed beyond the eye’s ability to follow.
The branches surging in from all sides were instantly chopped to pieces in the wake of that flash.
Before the severed wooden fragments even had time to hit the ground, Rion had already reached the Blood Treant’s main body.
Golden mana wrapped around the blade as if coating it. The sword drew a graceful half-circle and sliced across the Blood Treant’s massive body.
-Sshk.
A bizarrely quiet, smooth cutting sound—hard to believe it was slicing through the Blood Treant’s shell, which was harder than metal.
A thin golden line appeared across the huge trunk.
A moment of silence.
Then, beginning with that line, the trunk split apart and fell left and right. It slammed into the ground, sending up a massive cloud of dust.
“They’re running!”
“Don’t let them get away! One silver coin for each one!”
The monsters fled with their tails between their legs toward the forest. The adventurers and mercenaries seized the opening and charged after them with battle cries.
Rion flicked the sap and blood on his blade into the air, then smoothly slid the sword back into its scabbard.
“Who’s that guy?”
An adventurer who had been watching Rion from afar spoke up. She was an adventurer who had recently settled in Alderin.
“You want to be an adventurer in Alderin and you don’t even know the Slave Knight?”
“The Slave Knight? From Edelheid?”
Edelheid’s Slave Knight.
He was such a celebrity here in Alderin that it was hard to find anyone who didn’t know him.
I’d heard he was an absolute powerhouse, but I never imagined he’d be that strong....
“With skills like that, why is he a slave?”
“He was originally a gladiator slave, and the young lady of Edelheid bought him. Still, he wasn’t anywhere near that strong back then....”
“Wow, that lady really hit the jackpot.”
“Who in the world would invest in a slave like that? Her eye for talent is no ordinary thing either.”
The murmurs around him reached Rion’s ears, but he paid them no mind at all.
It was a story he heard everywhere he went. After three years of hearing it constantly, he was more than used to it.
“Rion.”
He heard footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw Lance approaching.
“Good work. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent major damage.”
“I just followed orders, that’s all.”
“Hm. Go finish up the cleanup. We’re heading back to the manor.”
Lance walked away.
Left alone, Rion brushed off his uniform lightly. He looked himself over, checking to see if he was hurt anywhere.
Before setting out, Renoa had threatened to double his training if he came back with even a single scratch, and her voice rang clearly in his ears.
Fortunately, he was unhurt.
Rion hopped down from the corpses. Turning his back on the scattered monster carcasses, he started walking.
***
The monster subjugation had been a success.
We were riding back on a cargo wagon to Edelheid’s villa, our home away from home.
“How many did you guys get today?”
“Hmph. Seven for me.”
“I got four....”
The trainee knights riding in the same wagon as me shared how many monsters they’d subjugated on this expedition.
Their conversation subtly dripped with competitive spirit and a sense of superiority over one another’s accomplishments.
“You all got quite a few, though. Euclis, what about you?”
“Why?”
Euclis answered with a straight face.
“Why, you ask? I’m just curious.”
“Is how many monsters you got really such an important issue? Snap out of it, Hampson. Monster subjugation isn’t a topic to turn into a bet. The safety of countless citizens is on the line.”
“No, that’s true, but when did I ever say we should make it a bet? I was just asking how many you’d killed....”
“What if I hadn’t gotten a single one? Would that mean there’s some problem? Are you trying to say that someone who can’t defeat monsters is worthless? Isn’t what matters the courage to stand there without retreating?”
“Why are you being so long-winded? I’m asking how many you got.”
“I’m disappointed, Hampson. I never thought you’d be such a result-obsessed snob....”
“This bastard clearly didn’t get a single one.”
At Hampson’s sharp jab, a burst of pointless laughter rose from the trainee knights. Euclis’s face turned bright red in an instant.
“What are you looking at? Rion, how many did you get?”
Euclis, who had been on the receiving end of the roasting, turned the spotlight on me.
I paused to search my memory for a moment.
“I didn’t count them, so I don’t know.”
“What?”
“Euclis, do you know how many pieces of bread you’ve eaten so far? Same principle.”
“Besides, his subjugation count is meaningless anyway, isn’t it? He single-handedly took down the boss. Honestly, that monstrous bastard never knows his limits.”
Hampson shook his head with a fed-up look. There was no real malice in his tone.
The trainees’ attitude toward me had changed greatly over these three years.
Rolling around in the dirt together, sweating together, and fighting on the battlefield with our lives on the line—there was no way camaraderie wouldn’t develop in that environment.
As time passed, everyone matured, too. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them friends, but at least we were at the point where we could joke around.
Soon, the wagon arrived at the manor.
We got off the wagon and lined up in front of Lance.
“You worked hard on this expedition as well. Some of you got satisfying results, while others may not have.”
At those words, everyone’s eyes turned to Euclis. With a dissatisfied expression, Euclis clicked his tongue.
“Don’t be disheartened. Still, I hope you take some time to think about what you lacked.”
Lance’s lecture had not even finished yet.
-Creeeak.
The manor’s front door, which had been firmly shut, slowly opened. Renoa appeared from beyond it.
I looked at her while standing in formation.
Three years, a span by no means short, had also left clear changes in Renoa.
There was no longer any trace of the little girl who had always been sharp-tempered and snappish.
She had shot up in height. With the baby fat gone, her features had become slimmer and more alluring.
Even the curves of her body, clearly defined beneath the dress, made her growth into a woman unmistakable.
The Renoa Edelheid I knew.
It was the moment she perfectly matched the villainess from the original story.
“Reporting in. We have returned safely after completing the monster subjugation near the Alderin Barony.”
Renoa descended the stairs at an unhurried pace and cast a languid glance our way.
“Good work. Don’t just stand there like idiots—go wash up and rest. I already told them to prepare tonight’s dinner with extra care.”
“Thank you, milady!”
At the thought of sweet rest and a banquet, the trainees’ faces all brightened at once.
We were just about to bow respectfully and head off to wash up.
“Ah.”
As if she’d just remembered something she had forgotten, Renoa’s lips slowly parted.
“Rion, you stay.”
“......”
Three years since I became Renoa’s slave.
If there was one more thing that had changed, it was that her obsession with me had become even more intense.