Into the Fray! Into the Fray! Into the Fray!

We decided to wait until dark before going in, so we would remain on standby until then.

I checked our equipment again.

I wondered if Shangri-La had anything useful—how about this? It's a throwing knife resembling the kunai used by ninjas.

The blade was about ten centimeters long, with paracord wrapped around the handle. The end was ring-shaped, making it look exactly like a kunai.

"I have something like this too—a throwing knife."

When I produced two throwing knives in front of me, the adventurers eagerly grabbed them.

"Whoa! This one's pretty good too. Boss, you've got all kinds of good stuff."

I handed out two each to about ten people. At 3,500 yen apiece, that came to 70,000 yen.

"You don't have to return these later."

"Seriously? Boss, you're pretty generous."

They cost 3,500 yen on Shangri-La, but one silver coin (50,000 yen) would be a normal market price.

For myself, I bought a laser sight for an airsoft gun. Since the battlefield would be dark, it might be useful attached to my crossbow.

At close range, aiming at its red dot would make me practically guaranteed to hit, but the troublesome switches and handling would make it unsuitable for the adventurers.

If we were heading to the enemy base during the day, I could scout with a drone, but it would be impossible in pitch darkness.

Besides, I didn't even know if I could just fiddle with it and get it flying.

As I browsed Shangri-La and agonized over what to buy, the old man was examining the arrowheads we'd exchanged.

"Hmm, this is a metal I've never seen before."

The old man seemed to try using some magic, but suddenly a dazzling light began flickering.

"Hey! That's no good!"

The light burst, scattering sparkling fragments all around.

"Old man, what did you do?!"

"Nothing much, just a simple spell... Some metals and stones can be used as magical catalysts."

"So—you found a metal you'd never seen before and wanted to try it?"

"Exactly."

What the old man was holding was one of the arrowheads we'd exchanged and handed out. It was probably stainless steel, but... the tip had a steel insert.

I bought a stainless-steel cup from Shangri-La and handed it to the old man.

"Old man, how about this?"

"Let's see..."

The old man tried using magic, but all that appeared before him was a small ball of light.

"This doesn't seem to be it."

Hmm? Then what was it? Looking at the arrowhead again, the tip was steel, but the shaft might be aluminum.

I bought a piece of aluminum plate about ten centimeters across and ten millimeters thick from Shangri-La and handed it to the old man.

When he held it and activated his magic, an eye-searing flash illuminated the area.

"Oh! This is it! Give it to me! With this, I don't need any reward for the subjugation!"

"Really?"

"I mean it. What do you say?"

"If that's enough for you, sure. If a tool-shop owner of many years has never seen it, it must be a rare metal, right?"

"Yes, I've never seen metal like this!"

The old man was ecstatic despite his age, so I figured it was fine.

"If I'd had something like this when I was young, I could have accomplished so much more."

Was it really that incredible? In that case, selling aluminum products in this world might be a bad idea. I'd have to be careful about the materials and such...

What else might be useful...? Oh! How about this?

What I bought from Shangri-La was a pack of firecrackers. They could be useful for intimidation and causing confusion.

I also bought a turbo lighter to light them. The firecrackers cost 300 yen, and the turbo lighter cost 1,000 yen.

"All right! I'll show you my magic too."

Saying that, I lit a firecracker and tossed it somewhere with no one around. A deafening barrage of explosions rang out, and scraps of paper flew through the air.

"Fgyahhh!"

Myaree's fur stood on end as she began to flee, while the other adventurers fell on their backsides.

"Hahaha! They aren't lethal, but they should work for intimidation."

White smoke and the smell of gunpowder filled the area.

"Damn! That scared the hell out of me."

"It doesn't seem very powerful, but it should certainly be useful."

The old mage had given it his seal of approval, but if one exploded near someone's face, it would be plenty powerful. It could also make someone cover their ears and leave them unable to act.

When I was a kid, I'd once held one while it exploded, and the internal bleeding had been awful.

Speaking of weapons, brush cutters and chainsaws would make fine weapons too—but using those against people...

If the other side were scum, would it be okay? But I still couldn't bring myself to do it.

Oh, right, I needed to refuel the truck. I opened the cap on the black fuel tank on the vehicle's right side and poured in about twenty liters of fuel made by modifying white kerosene from my Item Box.

The fuel tank said it held seventy liters, but there should be enough to finish this subjugation and get back to the city.

If I remembered correctly, it could travel about eight or nine kilometers per liter. Assuming there were thirty liters in the tank, that meant 240–270 kilometers. Plenty.

Well, assuming we made it back safely.

With this much equipment, we should manage somehow. We decided to wait for evening at our camp before the decisive battle.

------◇◇◇------

――And then evening came.

When the sky turned red, we began to move.

We loaded everyone into the truck and headed for the enemy's base. About five kilometers by the odometer, we entered the forest.

There was a road through the forest leading to the old castle, so it was hard to understand why the country hadn't taken any action when the location was known.

It was already dark inside the forest, but we drove slowly without turning on the headlights.

Myaree went ahead of us as a scout, carrying the transceiver.

"Myaree, are there any enemies?"

'None, nya!'

I communicated with Myaree over the transceiver with one hand on the wheel as we bumped along the rough road.

She seemed to have gotten used to using the transceiver too.

There were puddles here and there, but a four-wheel-drive truck had nothing to worry about. We cleared them while rocking violently from side to side.

Fortunately, the road didn't seem to have turned muddy.

It gradually grew darker, and there were no lights of any kind outside in this world.

The only lights were the moon and stars shining in the sky. Like my original world, this one had a single moon, but it was a little lonely not to see a single familiar constellation in the night sky.

About four kilometers after entering the forest, I stopped and turned off the engine.

I got out of the driver's seat and went to the cargo bed, where I listened to Myaree over the transceiver with everyone else. We should have only about a kilometer left, so we seemed to be just within communication range.

"Myaree, how does it look?"

'It's surrounded by stone walls, and there's a large wooden gate, nya.'

"Are there any enemies?"

'There's a watchtower extending above the walls, and there are guards, nya.'

"Are there people inside?"

'I can hear voices, so there are lots of them, nya.'

Beastfolk couldn't count, so specific numbers were impossible for her, but apparently there were quite a lot of people.

This was going to be a dangerously reckless operation. I already knew that, but this was definitely hard mode.

We waited silently for about an hour—the area was now completely dark.

"Well, shall we get going?"

"Yes, it's time."

We began the operation at Sir Northpole's signal. Though young compared with the rest of us, he was the highest-ranking person here and had the most combat experience.

The fact that someone of such caliber held only a one-generation knightly title did not bode well for this country's future.

The sons of kings and nobles had probably occupied all the important positions.

"Boss, chew this."

One of the beastfolk handed me a leaf.

"You don't look like you've had any combat experience, boss, so you've never done this, right? You chew it like this."

Saying that, Nyakero began chewing the leaf.

"Like this?"

As I chewed the leaf, a grassy smell and bitterness spread through my mouth.

"What the—bitter!"

My mouth gradually began to go numb, and I could no longer move my tongue properly.

"What ish thish? Ish it a drug?"

"Haha, you'll be fine. It'll kick in soon."

I felt as though I'd been tricked, but something strange began happening to my body.

Sparks popped in my eyes, filling them with particles of light.

My field of vision suddenly expanded, and despite the darkness, everything seemed to take on vivid color.

"Hahaha, what is this?! Hahaha, isn't this some dangerous drug?"

"It's fine. They say you'll become an invalid if you overdo it, but unless you're a complete idiot, you won't go that far."

"Hahaha! It really is some dangerous stuff, isn't it?"

I didn't understand it, but I felt absurdly happy. I couldn't stop laughing, even though we were about to head into a deadly situation.

"All right, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

I climbed into the truck's driver's seat, started the engine, and contacted Myaree over the transceiver.

"Myaree, we're going in!"

'Got it, nya! I'll take out the guards, nya!'

"Let's gooooo!"

I turned on the headlights and stepped on the accelerator. We had less than a kilometer left. We'd arrive in a minute or two.

I sped through the narrow forest path in the truck. I could no longer spare a thought for the people in the cargo bed.

It was simply too much fun.

About a minute and a half later, an old stone fort and a large wooden gate came into view. It must have been about three meters tall.

Myaree, who had found our truck and taken out the guards, leaped into the cargo bed.

"Old man! We're counting on you!"

I stuck my head out the window and cheered the old man on.

"Leave it to me. 'Edge of the abyss that leads to the hollow void, grant me power from the souls that fade away.'"

Blue light began gathering in front of the gate as he wove his spell.

"Explosion Magic!"

The blue light transformed into a red explosion, and the enormous gate was blown to pieces, sending fragments scattering and raining down everywhere.

A shock wave rippled out in concentric circles, shaking the trees and grass of the forest. A large tree near the blast toppled to the ground with the sound of its branches scraping together.

But apparently the blast had gone too far and blown away part of the stone wall as well.

"That was incredible! Old man, you're amazing!"

"Hahaha, it's thanks to the metal you gave me, but it seems a little difficult to control."

But the large gate blocking our way was gone.

"Old man! Can you fire more of that amazing stuff?"

"No, I'm afraid that's all for today."

As expected, he couldn't fire off that great spell many times. That made sense.

"Let's gooooo!"

I floored the accelerator and plunged into the flames that still remained.

We jolted over the rubble and passed through the smoke, emerging into a plaza.

Bonfires burned in several places around the plaza, allowing us to make out our surroundings faintly—and perhaps because of the leaf I'd chewed before coming here, my vision was unusually clear.

In front of us was a raised area with a wooden building on stilts. To the right stood two large wooden buildings that appeared to be barracks.

I hit the brakes and turned the wheel left, sending the rear wheels skidding.

The truck drifted in a wide arc, knocked aside the bonfires, and came to a stop broadside to the front of the building.

I got out of the driver's seat, hurried to the cargo bed, and took out a crossbow from my Item Box.

About ten villains appeared from the front building, drawn by the commotion.

Our plan had hit the mark. The enemy men had been drinking and partying, and now they came out wearing only trousers, bare-chested, with swords in hand.

Crossbows fired one after another from the truck bed behind the raised polycarbonate shields, impaling the bandits.

When you think of an attack with bows and arrows, the scene that comes to mind is usually an arrow sticking into someone's chest, but—

The bolts fired from these crossbows easily pierced the enemies' torsos, then embedded themselves one after another in the wooden wall behind them.

The crossbows were incredibly powerful, but slow to reload. While we were loading the next bolts, more enemies appeared.

"All right!"

The beastfolk, led by Nyakero, used the sideboards as steps and leaped down one after another to close with the enemies.

When one of the beastfolk raised his cutlass high and swung it down, an enemy held his sword horizontally above his head to block it—but—

He was overwhelmed by the beastman's immense strength, and the blade sank straight into his skull.

Kicking him down, the beastman swept the blade horizontally, and the momentum carried it through two more enemies' necks.

"Hahaha! I was worried this flimsy-looking blade would break, but it cuts unbelievably well!"

The four beastfolk were butchering the villains one after another. They were incredible. Wasn't their combat ability alone enough?

On top of that, they had excellent night vision. They could probably see the enemies clearly even in this dimness.

Then Sir Northpole dropped down beside the beastfolk.

"Heh heh heh, Wolf Fang is thirsty for blood tonight."

He deflected an enemy's sword from below, sliding his own blade upward, then spun once and slashed up beneath the enemy's armpit.

"As expected—what a magnificent edge."

He gazed intently at his blood-covered sword, his eyes eerily fixed—how frightening.

The knight was always a gentleman, but he must have been terrifying when angered. I'd have to be careful from now on.

The muscular man who had raised a dangerous flag before our departure was safe too.

For now, as long as we kept the polycarbonate shields raised and stayed in the truck bed, we wouldn't die.

If things became completely hopeless, we could jump into the truck and flee with the accelerator floored.

While we were dealing with the enemies in front, more of them poured out of the large barracks to our right.

I took out a firecracker from my Item Box, lit it with the turbo lighter, and threw it toward the new enemies.

A barrage of violent explosions rang throughout the area, and the billowing white smoke was illuminated by flashes of light from the explosions—

The enemies panicked at the sudden turn of events and began backing away.

"Yumbo Summon!"

A power shovel appeared in the plaza. I stylishly climbed into my partner, set my crossbow at my feet, and started the engine.

Drunk on the sound of the diesel engine, I opened the throttle all the way. When I switched on the headlights, their dazzling beams revealed the villains.

The steel machine advanced with the sound of its tracks grinding, extending its arm.

"Hahaha! Yumbo, spin!"

――In response to my shout, the machine began spinning rapidly in circles.

The villains were knocked away by the steel bucket and went tumbling. There was no way anyone could escape injury when a massive object collided with them at tremendous speed.

With the arm extended, it reached about four meters ahead, and when it spun around there, the circumference was about twenty-five meters. If it completed one rotation per second, the outer edge would be moving at ninety kilometers per hour.

That's why power shovels operating at construction sites must have warning signs that say: Keep Out of Operating Radius.

As the villains went flying and tumbling, I approached while raising the arm to a height of three meters, then brought it crashing down.

There was no way a human body could withstand the power that could casually dig holes in the ground and smash concrete.

The iron claw tore through a villain's body, mangling it, and the momentum split the torso of a man rolling beneath it in half.

Then the bucket scooped up and flung his entrails, and as it rose again like a rearing serpent, it advanced toward the surviving men.

Emitting a blinding light, the steel monstrosity approached, raising and lowering its arm with a clank-clank and pushing corpses aside with its blade. The bandits panicked.

"A-a-a—it's a monster!"

No matter how battle-hardened the villains were, once fear took hold, they were worth next to nothing. Arrows rained into their backs from the truck bed, killing them one after another.

"Hahaha! Heeheehee!"

I had gone completely mad. I felt invincible. I genuinely believed that even if I charged into a rain of arrows now, I wouldn't die.

I was truly in an invincible state. But I couldn't really be invincible.

People were dying all around me—I was the one killing them. Yet I felt no revulsion, not the slightest bit of guilt. There was only a rapturous intoxication rising from the depths of my heart.

It must have been because of the leaf I'd chewed before the battle. In a corner of my mind, amid nothing but exultation, a calm version of me sat there thinking that.

I destroyed the wooden barracks where the remaining bandits had fled, swinging the raised bucket down.

The walls and doors were reduced to splinters with a tremendous ripping and cracking sound.

"Aaaahhh!"

A shrill scream rang out from inside—was it a woman?

"If there's a woman in there, hide in a corner!"

The beastfolk poured in through the opening where the barracks had been destroyed and finished off the surviving villains, sending them to a bloody end.

"Aaaah!" "Eek!" "Somebody help me!"

I thought as the villains fled in panic: What do you mean, "Somebody help me"? At this point? Did these villains have no pride?

We destroyed the other barracks too and wiped out the remaining stragglers.

"You bastards! Look at this!"

A sudden loud voice echoed across the plaza.

A long-haired, bearded man stood on the deck attached to the building in front of us. A large scar marked his cheek.

He was the man on the wanted poster posted at the Adventurers' Guild—presumably the boss here, Shaga.

Primula-san stood in front of him, a sword pointed at her.

"I figured this was a subjugation party organized to rescue this girl, but I never expected some amazing mage capable of controlling a monster like that to show up the very next day."

"Primula-san!"

"Kenichi-san!"

"You villain! Let Primula-san go!"

I tried saying something that sounded suitably like the protagonist.

"You think a villain lets someone go just because he's told to?! You'd better drop your weapons, or this girl's life is forfeit!"

He was a villain through and through. I found that strangely convincing, but this was no time to be convinced.

Maybe it was the drug, but I kept thinking strange things. I felt no sense of tragedy at all.

It felt as though I were watching a TV drama from outside, as if it had nothing to do with me.

But I understood one thing: I had to rescue her.

Suddenly, Shaga grabbed Primula-san's blouse and ripped it wide open with brute force.

Her full, round, white breasts were exposed in front of the adventurers.

"Aaaahhh!"

"Primula-san! What are you doing?! I won't forgive you!"

"Hahaha! You bastard! If I'd known things would turn out like this, I should've ignored the nobles and enjoyed myself with this one to the fullest."

Saying that, Shaga began licking her cheek with his tongue.

Whoa, whoa—did he just say something outrageous...?

"Uuu..."

A sob escaped Primula-san.

"Myaree, can you hear me?"

At my voice, Myaree's ears turned toward me. Even from some distance away, a beastman's hearing should let her hear me.

I removed the laser sight from the crossbow, switched it on, and shone it onto Shaga's body.

"Can you see the red light on the enemy boss?"

Her ears twitched.

"I'm going to blind him with that light. You finish him with your bow."

Her ears twitched again in response.

"Ready? Three, two, one!"

I aligned the red dot of the laser sight with Shaga's eye.

"Agh! What the hell?! You bastard!"

Shaga released Primula-san, clutched his eye, and crouched down.

"Now!"

Myaree nocked an arrow at a speed too fast for the eye to follow, and—the shot pierced through his palm and eye, with the arrowhead protruding from the back of his skull.

He died instantly, of course.

At the same time, bolts flew from the crossbows at Shaga's men beside him, impaling them like hedgehogs.

Silence descended over the darkness—presumably, that meant the bandits had all been wiped out.

"We did it!"

After several minutes of silence, the beastfolk let out triumphant howls.

"Holy crap! We really did it!"

"Woohoo! We just made a fortune!"

The fallen bonfires continued burning, and the adventurers' voices echoed across the orange-lit plaza.