Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 10 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The Counterattack Begins

“Commander Travis. Word from the scouts.”

In the dense thickets of the forest, a messenger called out to Travis.

“There are no signs that Majima Takahiro has left the village,” he reported.

“Is that so?” Travis elegantly cupped his chin and nodded in satisfaction. “Everything is going in our favor. All that’s left is to reap the harvest. Inform them that there are no changes to their orders.”

“Sir!”

After the messenger left, Zoltan turned his cold eyes toward Travis.

“Just as you predicted, Majima Takahiro hasn’t fled,” he said.

“Oh? You speak as if it would’ve been better for him to run away,” Travis replied with an exaggerated shrug. “What’s wrong, Zoltan? Is this sympathy I hear?”

“As if,” Zoltan responded immediately. “I can’t feel sympathy,” he added without hesitation, his tone bone-chilling. “I merely find it strange that he hasn’t.”

“It isn’t all that strange. Didn’t I tell you? He’s a weakling meant to be crushed underfoot.” Travis let out a hearty laugh and sneered with ridicule, revealing the wicked nature that his elegant behavior usually hid. “I’m sure he couldn’t abandon the villagers. He’s so weak. Don’t you find him and his act frail?”

Zoltan fell silent for a moment. He believed it was a foolish decision, but he also found it to be a noble deed. Saying that wouldn’t amount to anything, though, and it would be simple hypocrisy. Zoltan was among those who were about to attack the village, after all. For this reason, he decided not to continue on the topic and talked about something else.

“Despite constantly calling him weak, you’ve plotted and schemed quite a bit to take him on.”

Zoltan looked around him. Twenty knights were in sight, about ten percent of their total forces. As for where the others were...

“It’s just for caution’s sake,” Travis said with an air of superiority.

Travis hadn’t shown an ounce of negligence. Even though he was certain of victory—or rather, to make victory certain—he’d formed his strategy with cold calculation. Unless Majima Takahiro knew of Travis’s plans, he would have no way of dealing with them. Nonetheless, if there was one thing still bothering Zoltan...

“Oh come on, Zoltan. You always overthink things.”

A voice cut off Zoltan’s thoughts. Edgar, who’d been listening quietly up until now, was smiling, a rare sight on his sharp features. It was strange for him to give a damn about anyone else. Perhaps that simply reflected his great mood and how hopeful he was for the upcoming battle.

“Right...” Zoltan replied.

“Commander Travis,” another voice said. “All preparations are complete.”

“Good,” Travis replied with a twisted grin to the new messenger pushing his way through the thickets. “Now, then. It’s time to trample the weaklings.”

With that declaration, the knights surrounding him raised their swords to the sky. Among them, only Zoltan lowered his eyes to the ground.

◆ ◆ ◆

Exultant knights proceeded through the forest down the path to the village. Morale was high. The mood was festive. They could already see the sweet fruit of victory that had been promised to them.

They were, of course, the most unimportant of knights. They knew full well that any battle came with sacrifice. But what of it? Sacrifices were sure to be made, but that didn’t matter so long as it wasn’t them. They didn’t care how many of their comrades died. Even though they’d become highly skilled in group tactics through training, it hadn’t fostered any bonds among them. If necessary, they would use the comrade at their side as a shield.

“I can see it now,” one of the knights said.

The village’s defensive walls were coming into view.

“That’s...”

A single figure stood directly above the gate—a girl with ashen hair. She was wearing a maid’s outfit and wielding a large axe that contrasted with her lovely appearance. If they hadn’t known better, this would’ve looked like some kind of joke. These knights didn’t react as if it were, though. The scouts had already informed them of this.

They marched on, but Travis wasn’t among them. Considering the size of the whole Fourth Company, this group wasn’t all that big. Why was that? Showing no indication of whether she found this inexplicable, Rose watched the knights drawing nearer, her eyes tranquil all the while.

◆ ◆ ◆

On the other side of the village, opposite from where the knights were marching straight toward the front gates, another group of knights pushed their ways through the thickets, using the foliage to cover their advance.

“I’m guessing the ‘main force’ should be arriving at the gates soon,” one of them said. He sneered, clearly making fun of his comrades. The way he’d said “main force” had been filled with wicked intent. “Seriously, Commander Travis has a terrible personality. Those guys probably have no idea they’re a decoy.”

The knights marching straight toward the village weren’t the entire Fourth Company. Travis had split his forces again. The group marching through the forest was a detached force...or rather, the actual main force of this strategy.

If attacked from the front, Majima Takahiro’s servants would be forced to sally out and take the attackers head-on. However, Majima Takahiro’s power as a visitor wasn’t suited to direct combat. He would surely choose to remain in the safety of the village rather than brave a dangerous battlefield. The detached force’s role was to gain entry into the village from a different angle and launch a surprise attack on him.

It didn’t matter how many monsters they defeated. There was no meaning to their attack unless they took the heads of the Wicked Monster Tamer and the Repulsive Ghoul. Travis had emphasized this many times over.

Being certain of victory and achieving great deeds were different matters altogether. For example, if his servants suffered a crushing defeat, Majima Takahiro might flee the village in fear. At the very least, that was what Travis would do. He would use those monsters as sacrificial pawns and leave immediately. That was why he’d chosen this strategy.

The knights of the detached force, a gathering of people who sympathized with such behavior, understood this. Depending on the circumstances, the “main force” would suffer many casualties taking on Majima Takahiro’s servants, but that was fine. That had nothing to do with the knights of the detached force.

Thus, the knights marched on, closing in on the weaklings they were destined to crush.

◆ ◆ ◆

Around that time, the main force that had been calmly marching forward was now quite close to the village. Nothing obstructed them. As before, the girl in a maid’s outfit stood stock-still atop the walls.

“Keep advancing,” ordered the knight in command.

At a glance, the girl looked human, but she was actually one of Majima Takahiro’s servants. All the knights already knew this because the Holy Order had obtained information regarding Majima Takahiro beforehand.

The Holy Order’s Fourth Company Commander Travis had worked with Louis Bard in Serrata. Louis’s lord, Margrave Maclaurin, had taken custody of the Alliance Knights and seized charge of the soldiers who’d been stationed at Fort Tilia. Louis had heard about the turmoil at Fort Tilia, and he’d received information on Majima Takahiro that had been acquired during the evacuation through the Woodlands.

Travis had gotten every last bit of information from Louis, including details on the servant waiting for them atop the walls. Its name was Rose. During the evacuation, another servant named Lily had done all the fighting, so this one hadn’t really taken part in any battles. But judging by how it hadn’t provided any support with magic, they guessed it was a close-combat type of monster.

The knights weren’t particularly wary of it. The monster they had to be careful of was Lily. That one could use powerful grade 3 magic from a distance, so combined with the walls and any earthen fortifications, it could become troublesome.

The defenders were probably aware of this, so it was highly likely that Lily would show up here. The one before them, Rose, was stronger than a common monster, but compared to Majima Takahiro’s strongest servant, Gerbera, and the powerful magic user, Lily, it was one or two levels weaker. A common soldier might get overwhelmed, but the knights of the Holy Order had nothing to fear with their numbers. Numbers were power, and each individual was strong on their own.

If pushed to say it, they were more afraid that Rose was acting as Lily’s shield. They had to kill it as soon as possible before that could happen. The knights were only wary of Lily, who’d yet to show up, so they continued to march down the path, vigilantly watching their surroundings for any sign of an ambush. That was why they were slow to react to the enemy before them.

A vortex of mana surged atop the walls, and the knights instinctively felt that the enemy was no weakling they could easily crush underfoot. Flaming bullets rained down from the walls right at them.

“Wh-What?!”

The knights froze. This was impossible. Chills ran down their spines, warning them this was something only a few people in the whole world could use—grade 3 magic on a grand scale. Or maybe not. Was this possibly even beyond that?

“C-Company! Shields up!” the commanding knight screamed.

Even if they were all vulgar by nature, they were still knights of the Holy Order and had received the best training this world had to offer. They reflexively gathered in a defensive formation. Some of them didn’t make it in time, though.

“Aaaah?!”

“Gaargh?!”

It was basically a carpet-bombing. The area of effect was unbelievably large, so the majority of the fifty or so knights were within range. Screams rose all over the place. Even though some of them had defended themselves in time, some were swept off their feet by the explosive blasts. The enemy had attacked unexpectedly from a blind spot, throwing the knights into disarray.

“N-No way!”

“Uugh... Shit. Isn’t this power grade 3...?”

“Don’t be stupid! Grade 3 magic of this strength can’t cover so much ground!”

“So grade 4?! This isn’t what we were told!”

Fundamentally, the destructive force of magic of a certain grade was inversely proportional to its area of effect. For example, when using grade 4 magic, a large area of effect would decrease the destructive force to the same level as standard grade 3 magic. Conversely, narrowing the range would increase it far beyond grade 3 magic.

The attack just now had the power of standard grade 3 magic while also covering a large range. This was the domain of saviors—grade 4 offensive magic.

“Impossible! This must be some kind of mistake!”

The knights groaned in pain and screamed in shock.

“I understand how unbelievable you must find this, but you’re right. The destructive power is only grade 3 at most,” Rose muttered quietly, looking down at them. “And it doesn’t have the flexibility of grade 4 magic.”

Normally, one could adjust the power and range of magic, but Rose couldn’t adjust the power because it wasn’t magic—it was an attack using magic tools. Magic tools were inflexible; their power was fixed and couldn’t be changed at all.

The area of effect was a different matter. Simply put, one just had to gather and use more runestones at once. That said, it was unusual to have a large number of expensive runestones, especially ones that could exhibit the power of grade 3 magic.

Magic tools that could manifest grade 3 magic, like the sword Takaya Jun had wielded, were classified as legendary artifacts. It was impossible to wield more than one at a time. Normally, that is. Rose could make that pipe dream a reality by creating imitation runestones with her magic knife. She hadn’t merely used these imitation runestones either. If she had, she wouldn’t have been able to create the spectacle she did. Rose’s imitation runestones could, at most, manifest grade 2 magic, but there was a certain trick to it.

“It does feel like a bit of a waste...” Rose whispered sadly as she tapped the butt of her axe against the ground.

Her mana suddenly swelled again, which made the panicking knights even more tense. The many imitation runestones Rose had installed along the walls the previous evening shone with light. The light grew stronger and stronger, showing no signs of stopping. Finally, no longer able to withstand the mana, they cracked. Rose ignored this and increased her output more and more, refusing to stop until they broke.

The idea was the same as the flash runestones Rose had once gifted Katou Mana and Kei. Those used a large amount of mana all at once, taking advantage of poor-quality stones and shattering them in the process.

So what if the same was done with high-quality runestones? This was the answer. Their power could match the legendary weapons of this world, producing an effect that rivaled grade 3 magic. This would normally just be a thought experiment; it was inconceivable to use high-quality runestones, more valuable than any gem and skillfully crafted over a long period of time, as a single-use tool.

Rose’s imitation runestones were different, though. The raw materials needed—wood from any tree—could be found anywhere. She made them herself, so there was no additional cost. Still, not even Rose would use them willy-nilly.

Imitation runestones took time and effort to make too. The ones she was using now had taken her roughly three months to make, and she could only fire three volleys at most. Put another way, she was throwing away a whole month of work in an instant.

“But this is necessary,” Rose declared, increasing her output even more.

Rose’s master had once asked his best friend Kaneki Mikihiko to help Rose with developing magic tools. Mikihiko had used his knowledge of miscellaneous topics to teach her many things. They ranged from the foolish to the trivial, and even idle chatter. Among all that, he’d taught her about fireworks.

Once in a while, craftsmen would spend months making a firework that then burned out in an instant. However, that one instant colored the night sky with a blooming flower. Rose had felt the beauty and possibilities behind that.

Rose knew her limits. She was no match for Gerbera. She couldn’t reach Lily’s level either. She was beneath both of them. Monsters could increase their mana capacity by eating other monsters, but a puppet didn’t have the organs to prey on others, so she would likely never close this gap. Her younger sisters were more likely to surpass her one day.

Nonetheless, by burning up an accumulation of effort in an instant, perhaps she could shine brighter than all of her sisters. With that wish in mind, Rose voiced her creation’s name.

“Combat fireworks. There’s no being stingy now.”

The knights weren’t just sitting around and taking it, of course. They retaliated with magic of their own, but the walls protected Rose. The village’s defenses, which should’ve collapsed after taking a few shots of magic, didn’t budge one inch.

That was because Rose had reinforced the walls personally. She’d only done so in her immediate vicinity, but even Fort Tilia’s sturdy stone ramparts couldn’t match them. The village was practically a fortress of its own now. The walls obstructed the majority of the knights’ magic, while Rose fended off the rest herself. With nobody to stop them, the runestones finally shattered, and a rain of fireballs fell on the knights once more.