Book 3: Chapter 14

Book 3: Chapter 14

Madman

Speaking of which, whats the monster problem that happened to the baron territory?

I havent explained about that huh.

When we had gotten close to the baron territory along the border, I asked that question while going through the highway. Viro taught me the information in order.

First he told me the terrain information. There was a huge lake along the border that was located several days of travel to the west from the territory of Duke Helton. But the problem wasnt there, the west side from the lake was the buffer zone of this country with the neighboring country Solhorse Kingdom. The problem was occurring at the highway that was leading to Solhorse Kingdom that was located at the marshland north to the lake.

Because a rocky area that was a monster habitat and a marshland acted as buffer area with the neighboring country Solhorse Kingdom, clash between feudal lords had never happened, but there was a political dispute surrounding the rights for Condo Mine not only with Solhorse Kingdom, but also with Condor Kingdom and Ils Dukedom. It was a political problem between four countries that were still continuing even now.

That was exactly why marriage between royal families was also indispensable in order to obtain advantage in that struggle of rights, but despite the problem in national level, the relationships between the people of the countries were relatively friendly.

The interaction between merchants was flourishing, and because there was also a large scale dungeon near the side of Solhorse, a lot of adventurers obtained permission to come and go between countries.

But, one day apparently a black beast appeared in that buffer area marshland. It started attacking merchants and adventurers. Its true identity was

An ancient mythical beastCoeurl.

In legend it was said to be a mythical beast that appeared from another world. It had the large body of panther and two whiskers that grew long and flexible like whips from the tips of its ears.

It was cunning and merciless. Its intelligence was greater than human and its mighty strength even made it got called as Black Destroyer. It was a rank 5 mythical beast and it was said that one who had lived for particularly long could rival even dragon.

A Coeurl.

To be accurate it wasnt a monster but a mythical beast. If the opponent was a mythical beast of that level, I could understand why the duke would lead the subjugation force personally to gather popularity. In this Claydale Kingdom, the two margrave houses possessed powerful strength both politically and financially. Duke house that was also related by blood to the royal family originally had the role of protecting the nation from external enemy, the territory of Duke Helton didnt have any special industry and became unable to maintain their authority as a duke house, so they were deepening their relationship with the neighboring countries in the economic front even though they actually should be keeping watch to those countries from trying anything.

Although the duke house could have it easy now in the financial aspects because of that, their authority within the country still hadnt recovered. That was exactly why if the duke could personally defeat the mythical beast, although it wouldnt be as good as defeating a dragon, such feat would still give him a lot of popularity that praised his martial prowess.

Based from the testimony of the witness that saw the size of the Coeurl, it was assumed that the mythical beast was still young. Therefore it wasnt as strong as low ranked dragon that was equal to rank 6, but the duke chose to bring more than a hundred high ranked knights that served his house where all of them were rank 3 to face the Coeurl.

It was uncertain since when that Coeurl was staying in that land. But, a story that there was a black beast living in a mountain near the nearby Condo Mine had been spreading in the village of the miners since a long time ago.

But.

What was the reason that Coeurl started attacking human?

Grave isnt hiding in the town but near the forest of the marshland where the mythical beast is sighted. Aquatic beast demihuman race, lizardmen are also living there but, if its him then it shouldnt be a problem for him. Several agents of the black ops became sacrifice in order to obtain this information. Were going to settle this before Grave can start taking action.

Roger.

Just leave it to me-, hi hi hi

Rank 2 or 3 agents would simply get detected by Grave and be killed right away without even offering any fight. The result wouldnt change even if they brought soldiers or knights who were weaker than them.

Grave could just run away if he was challenged with number. The only way to defeat Grave with little damage was by sending in small number of elites.

It seemed that Viro and Samantha had rank 5 warrior and heavy warrior as teammates in their party, but Grave who was operating solo just like me could easily escape if we had number on our side.

That was why after also considering the possibility of surprise attack with assassination and the like, the members of the subjugation force became filled with irregular selections like this, scouts and magician that also included old woman and child.

Even so it was unknown whether Grave could be defeated with just a rank 4 like Viro and a high end rank 3 like me, so the main fighter would be the rank 5 sorcerer Samantha with us assisting her for the close quarter combat.

Viro and I would work together to hold back Grave while Samantha would look for opening to defeat him with her sorcery. That was our main tactic for this mission.

All obstacles should simply be killed. If there was a fool who threatened the king then that fool should just be killed.

For the people it didnt matter who became the king. But, he believed that only the stability of the royal family that wasnt a fool would lead to the happiness of the people.

But for that, he had no intention to take roundabout method like before anymore.

But for that, he had no intention to act rashly like before anymore.

Before he thought that it was fine to sacrifice anyone including himself if it was for the right thing. But, he finally noticed that this world was filled with stupidity.

Humans were foolish regardless whether they were noble or commoner. He ended up thinking that to guide this world correctly, it was necessary for him to accomplish his objective without dying himself.

He would kill any noble who was a hindrance. If necessary he would even kill a royalty.

For that he wouldnt be picky with his method and clung to life tenaciously for the sake of his objective. He learned that from the dangerous maid who he killed before.

It was only because of that battle that Grave stopped being picky with his method for the sake of his objective.

At that time he thought that the best thing to do was to kill that girl who got close to the princess, but looking back now, a part of him was also thinking that perhaps that girl might be the only one who could possibly understand his ideal and became his successor.

.

He had worked out multiple plans and placed traps everywhere for the sake of his objective.

One of those plans, in order to kill Duke Helton in this land, Grave relied on an uncertain information and lured a dangerous monster that was said to live in the mountain to the human settlement.

The possibility of success for this plan wasnt high but it wouldnt bother him even if this plan failed.

Not many adventurers in this country could defeat rank 5 monster. And that number would be narrowed down even further if the opponent was a beast in a forest. And if that opponent was actually a mythical beast, some of those people would even hesitate.

That was exactly why, he thought that the duke would dispatch his trump card, the high ranked knights in his employ to take care of that threat. If things went well like that, the security for the duke would become shorthanded and he would be able to kill him, but the duke foolishly decided to personally lead his soldiers, making it easier for Grave to go kill him.

That was why Grave was waiting near this forest until the duke came to be killed.

He stayed in this area to provoke the mythical beast and prevented it from giving up and going home. He also made it so the mythical beast attacked the passing merchant or adventurer so that the duke would have no choice but came out.

But, uninvited guests appeared earlier than the dukes arrival. He was able to find the other party first before they could find him because of lucky coincidence, but it could also be considered as an inevitability with Graves current strength.

Even Grave knew very well the identity of the man who was stealthily walking through the forest along the highway. It was Viro of the rank 5 adventurer party Rainbow Sword who also had connection with the black ops.

The party leader, the heavy warrior dwarf wasnt here. It must be because they thought that Grave would run away if that person also came here.

But, it was pointless.

He too wasnt the same anymore with the past him who Viro knew about. Depending on his method, Grave was confident that now he would be able to assassinate his opponent one by one even if all the members of Rainbow Sword were here.

But in battle there was nothing absolute. If he wanted to play it safe, he could simply lure them and allowed the mythical beast to kill them.

If all members of Rainbow Sword were present here, it would be likelier that the mythical beast would be the one that got killed, but if less than half of their members were here, it was unthinkable that they would be able to deal with the mythical beast.

ButGrave recognized the figure of the girl walking at the very back and his lips expressed a twisted delight. He decided to face them personally.

.

So youre alive, Aria-