204

Chapter 204 — In the End (6)

The request I had accepted this time was a designated request that had come through the Adventurers’ Guild.

The client was the military, and the request itself was to assist with reconnaissance.

Prrr.

As an aside, if I’d known we were bringing horses along, I would have brought Frederick from the beginning.

I’d wasted time retracing my route for nothing.

“That’s a fine horse.”

Still, at least they gave me enough time to go get him.

When I first mentioned Frederick, the captain had looked displeased, but I saw her eyebrows rise once she laid eyes on him.

Apparently even she could tell Frederick wasn’t an ordinary horse.

As expected of the magnificent Frederick.

“We depart.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Putting that aside, the scouts gave crisp replies to the captain’s shout.

The sight of dozens of scouts mounted on horseback and moving with military precision was fairly impressive.

Even I, who was only tagging along for this mission, felt my heart beat a little faster.

Not that it made me want to enlist.

Clop-clop-clop!

I urged Frederick forward after the others as they all began moving at once.

He seemed disappointed that he couldn’t just run as freely as he pleased, but even so, he adjusted to the group remarkably well.

The rhythmic thump-thump-thump of his sitting trot was quite cheerful.

“Clear the road!”

“Move to either side!”

At that pace, we crossed the streets and soon reached the city wall.

The road in front of and behind the gate had been completely cleared.

They had opened up the route so the horses could pass unobstructed.

“Pick up the pace!”

Thanks to that, the moment we left the city gate, we could immediately accelerate.

Thududududu.

The horses carrying thirty soldiers and one Adventurer raced down the packed dirt road.

“Right!”

But we only remained on the maintained road for a short while.

In keeping with the purpose of reconnaissance, we soon veered off to one side.

Judging from the explanation I’d heard beforehand, we were probably heading toward the shore now.

Splash!

I glanced at the coastline made up of pebbles and rocks and found myself impressed.

Most of the shores I’d seen in the west had been sandy, but around Bemurchen, they were all pebble beaches.

Farther away, some places even looked like tidal flats.

“Spread out! We’re entering the tidal flats!”

Oh.

So it didn’t just look like one.

It really was a tidal flat.

But could horses even enter tidal flats?

Wouldn’t their legs sink?

I swallowed my doubt and surprise and followed the soldiers.

They wouldn’t be going in if they couldn’t.

That was more or less what I told myself.

Splash, splash.

Sure enough, the horses raced across the wet ground while kicking up water without sinking.

It seemed possible because the soil beneath us wasn’t the sticky mud I associated with tidal flats, but something closer to submerged sand.

Flap-flap-flap.

The birds scattered across the wetlands all took flight at once to escape the approaching horses.

“Do not lower your guard! If you spot mermen, sirens, or anything similar, signal immediately!”

So was the whole job just to ride like this and look around?

The vice-captain had explained that I should signal if I found anything “strange,” but how was I supposed to know what qualified as strange?

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered why they had hired me at all.

I scanned the surroundings from the corner of my eye while matching the others’ speed.

Then I noticed a faint movement near the horizon.

A wave?

No, that looked a little unnatural for a wave…

The water kept splashing as though something were thrashing around in it……

“Three o’clock to the right! Splashing!”

Just as I was about to stare harder and make certain, someone shouted.

Three o’clock to the right.

That was almost exactly where I had been looking.

“Full gallop!”

Oh…

So even just seeing something splashing around was enough to report it.

I decided I’d speak up immediately from the next sighting onward and turned Frederick’s head.

“One legless-type merman! Presumed straggler!”

“You’re certain it’s only one?!”

“Certain!”

Before long, something resembling a mermaid became visible between the shallow stretches of water.

Apparently it had noticed us as well, because it had just crawled out of a tidal channel and was now trying to move toward the sea.

It seemed to have missed the timing to retreat with the ebbing tide…

And since it was a legless type—I’d only learned after coming here that mermen were divided into those with legs and those without—it apparently hadn’t been able to get out and had been trapped in the depression.

“Straggler” suited it perfectly.

“Adventurer! I’ll see what you can do! Kill it! Everyone else, reduce speed!”

But the merman was lying so flat against the ground that I couldn’t even see what it looked like……?

“Vice-captain, help him!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Ah, startled me.

I hadn’t expected to be called out.

“Keep moving toward the merman without slowing down! At an appropriate distance, throw the issued harpoon and pin it down!”

Unlike the strict captain, the vice-captain—easygoing in a way somewhat reminiscent of Deb—called over to me.

From what I’d experienced while receiving instructions earlier, he was quite kind.

“Like I told you before, you absolutely have to confirm the kill with the long spear. And be careful when you get close unless you want your horse’s ankles sliced open!”

Like the captain, he wasn’t particularly friendly toward me personally, but his personality itself was affable enough that he came across as kind.

It helped in several ways.

“Well? Confident? Want me to do the finishing blow?”

“I only need to kill it?”

“Yes. It’s not as though capturing one would let us interrogate it.”

So we weren’t planning to capture it for anything.

Then was there really any reason to ride all the way over there?

I could just kill it from here.

Slash!

Instead of the issued harpoon, I drew my longsword and fired sword energy.

I’d debated whether to kill it with a Mana Spear or sword energy, and there was only one reason I chose the latter.

The captain wasn’t favorably disposed toward me, and Mana Spears were difficult to see.

If I killed it with one, there was a chance she wouldn’t see what happened and would doubt me.

“Oh…….”

“…What the hell?”

Sword energy, on the other hand, was black but large enough to be clearly visible.

“Stop, stop.”

Neigh!

Apparently my little scheme had worked on the vice-captain, at the very least.

With a shocked expression, he hurriedly reined in his horse.

Splash, splash.

I gave Frederick the same signal.

“S-Sword energy can fly too…….”

The vice-captain blinked awkwardly before scratching his head and turning around.

“Should we confirm it?”

His gaze went toward the captain.

“…For now, confirm the kill.”

“Hah. If something split cleanly in half is still alive, then it’s probably not a merman anymore. Understood.”

The vice-captain tilted his head from side to side before slowly riding forward.

“If you want to see a merman, come with me. If you’ve seen one before, you can stay.”

Oh.

Then I want to see it.

I followed the vice-captain at a light trot.

Before setting out, I had checked an illustration of a merman—and I’d seen them in the game as well—but I had never seen one in person.

“…Damn. It dies this easily?”

The merman I saw up close was, quite literally, shaped like a mermaid.

Although unlike the mermaids commonly portrayed in other media, it was far closer to a marine creature.

It looked exactly like the sort of thing that had made me shout, “Wow! A relative of Cthulhu!” when I’d seen it in the original Legend of Heroes.

Tap, tap.

I watched the vice-captain poke the merman a few times with the long spear, then shifted my attention to the distance he maintained from it.

So that was why they had issued us three-meter spears—split into two 1.5-meter sections while mounted.

Apparently that was how much distance you needed.

“It’s definitely dead… so let’s head back. Adventurer, you’re pretty impressive.”

“Can we leave the corpse?”

“We don’t have the manpower to retrieve it.”

I see……

Accepting his answer, I returned to the group with him.

The captain’s expression looked somewhat softer than before.

“Seems the recommendation wasn’t for nothing.”

Apparently she liked my sword energy.

“We move out again! And Adventurer, from now on, we will not wait for you. Once you have dealt with a target, catch up on your own!”

Still, that didn’t mean my treatment suddenly improved.

That simply seemed to be her personality, so I didn’t feel particularly wronged.

The reconnaissance—and merman cleanup—resumed.

* * *

“We make camp here!”

The reconnaissance would continue until tomorrow.

In other words, we would be spending tonight sleeping outside.

“Third squad, you’re coming with me to scout the surroundings. Fourth and fifth squads, care for the horses. Sixth squad, stand watch.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Meals were the same issue.

We had gotten through lunch with some bread, but dinner couldn’t be handled so carelessly.

“All right, you heard her. Fourth and fifth squads, hurry up and tend to the horses. Sixth squad, spread out and start watching the perimeter. First and second squads, prepare dinner and set up camp!”

The six squads, each divided into groups of six—with one squad containing seven because of me—began carrying out their assigned tasks.

The first squad, which I belonged to, had somehow ended up in charge of meal preparation and cooking.

The second squad was responsible for preparing the campsite.

“Hey, Adventurer.”

However, the vice-captain—who had volunteered to start the fire; both the captain and vice-captain belonged to the first squad—dragged me into that job.

Apparently he wanted to talk to me.

“Were you perhaps a knight before becoming an Adventurer?”

Unfortunately, I had my own hands full……

I hadn’t needed to start fires myself very often, so I was still bad at things like this.

Enviously watching the second squad remove stones from the ground and dig a ditch to draw water from a nearby stream, I diligently worked the flint.

Luckily, I managed to get the fire going on my third attempt.

“Is that information necessary for the reconnaissance?”

“Not exactly……”

“Then I will not answer.”

Read only on MUGEX

Maybe I’d responded a little too sharply because I was feeling miserable.

The vice-captain looked slightly embarrassed.

“Right. Let’s hang the pot now.”

If we wanted to cook, we needed to set up the pot.

I glanced at the other soldiers who were preparing the ingredients, then helped the vice-captain.

Of course, I’d only done this a few times before, so eventually the vice-captain got too frustrated watching me and took over the entire task.

Apparently seeing me work was unbearable.

“Hey, man. You really are an Adventurer, right?”

“…….”

Sorry I can’t even do this despite being an Adventurer……

I had nothing to say.

“…Can you cook?”

“…I know how.”

This wasn’t much better.

It wasn’t as though I was catastrophically bad at cooking…

I mean, I wasn’t on the level of some manga character who accidentally performed alchemy instead of making food……

I just…

sometimes undercooked things.

Or burned them.

Or both.

“…….”

“…….”

“…Well, that happens. There are things in this world that some people simply can’t do no matter how hard they try.”

Th-Thank you for putting it that way……

I accepted the vice-captain’s consideration with a complicated expression.

Honestly, it was better for everyone if I stayed away from the cooking.

Sure, it might be a little out of character, but not to an extreme degree, and eating decent food was better than eating something awful……

It wasn’t as though I were traveling with my usual companions either……

“Instead, go help them pitch that tent. I can handle the cooking on my own anyway. Once you’re done, help the second squad.”

That much I could do.

I went to help the soldier who had been excluded from meal preparation and left to pitch a tent alone because the captain belonged to our squad.

Since it was the captain’s personal tent—in other words, a one-person tent—it didn’t take much effort.

The second squad’s ditch digging was the same.

The stream was somewhat far away, but there was a section that had already been worked on sometime in the past, and with seven grown adults working on it, we finished quickly.

“How’s the meal?”

“Finished.”

Before long, the captain returned after inspecting possible threats around the camp with several soldiers.

“Squads one through three eat first. Everyone else remains on watch.”

To prepare for any unexpected situation, meals would be eaten in shifts.

The members of the first, second, and third squads hurriedly gathered around the food.

“Where are you from?”

Just as I was being served, however, the captain asked me a question.

It felt slightly out of nowhere.

“I’m asking which knight academy you graduated from.”

Ah.

So that was what she meant.

I hadn’t expected the captain to ask too.

“Münmundt? Chechebator? Harson? Hadeneru? Osla? Or Zaidard in the south?”

I slowly closed my eyes, then opened them again.

Names I remembered seeing among the world’s knight academies were coming out one after another.

“Is there a reason I must tell you?”

“If you do not wish to say, that is fine. It was merely personal curiosity.”

Fortunately, the captain didn’t insist on an answer.

Her rigid personality was useful at times like this.

“Anyone who has finished eating, wash your bowl so the next squad can use it. But move in groups of at least two.”

Dietrich, captain of the reconnaissance unit, spoke casually after noticing the Adventurer’s empty bowl.

Although the procedures of the reconnaissance had been explained back in the city, there was no way such minor details had been included.

“If you’re done, come with me.”

Sure enough, only after she said that—and after a soldier tactfully stepped forward to help—did the Adventurer begin moving.

The fact that he immediately understood what was expected and acted accordingly was rather pleasing, especially compared to when he had first joined them.

It seemed the Lord had not personally recommended him for no reason.

“Captain.”

At this point, perhaps he was even preferable to the vice-captain.

She glared at the vice-captain, who talked far too much.

“Come on, don’t be so stiff.”

However, the vice-captain had joined the reconnaissance unit before she had and was someone she was grateful to, having helped her greatly despite her poor way with words.

“What that Adventurer did earlier—can you do that too, Captain?”

“…No.”

Rather than continue glaring, she answered honestly.

“Then what about the people from that academy you graduated from? Can they do it?”

“No. At least, no one I know.”

She didn’t care that her answer might diminish her own standing.

Like the vice-captain, every soldier currently here had served alongside her for twenty years.

An answer like this would not weaken her authority.

“I doubt it would be much different elsewhere.”

Moreover, what the Adventurer had done earlier wasn’t something she should feel ashamed of being unable to replicate.

The strange one was the person capable of doing it.

“If someone has enough Mana not only to manifest it physically but even to fire it outward, they would become a mage, not a knight.”

“That’s how it works?”

“Hmm… Maybe he’s just some eccentric who really wanted to become a knight?”

“That would also be difficult. From what I was taught, the more Mana one possesses, the harder it becomes to move the body exactly as intended.”

Ordinary daily movement wasn’t an issue.

But that was as far as it went.

Most Mana users with enough power to become mages were physically clumsy—by the standards of professional knights.

By ordinary standards, they were average.

It wasn’t a matter of reflexes or talent.

Their bodies simply failed to obey their intentions with sufficient precision.

“I’ve heard there are some who manage to overcome it to a degree through grueling effort… but even they weren’t anywhere near that level. That Adventurer is probably an exceptional case.”

As she spoke, she remembered the mentor who had passed away several years earlier.

That person and their child had been exactly that sort—the kind who had overcome the interference of Mana through sheer effort.

The thought of people whose news she could no longer hear made her gloomy for a moment.

“…Then why is he an Adventurer?”

But only for a moment.

The vice-captain’s words pulled her back to herself.

“That is his personal choice. Respect it.”

“Sure, but… it feels like a waste. Our city only has ten knights.”

Normally, even ten would be considered quite a lot.

If anything, because of the nature of battles fought in their city—where killing mermen required more harpoons rather than refined swordsmanship—even maintaining ten knights was already a significant investment.

She suppressed the urge to say that.

Even though she was willing to acknowledge reality, she had no desire to unnecessarily diminish her own usefulness.

“Right, right. Even at the checkpoint, he ignored the curse and just kept walking forward. Seemed like he’d be better suited to something besides Adventuring.”

“……? Ah, the one who saved Margarita was……?”

“Yeah. Probably the same person. He also helped capture Demon Worshippers a few days ago.”

“Then it really is a waste. Adventurers don’t usually hunt demons. Letting talent like that rot……”

“That depends on the Adventurer. And when I looked him up, apparently he’s famous for demon hunting……?”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“Vice-captain, you’re surprisingly bad at hearing this kind of news……. That Adventurer’s epithet is Demon Knight, you know. A killer of demons and criminals.”

Instead, she temporarily allowed the soldiers, who had begun chattering as soon as the vice-captain opened the topic, to continue.

It didn’t suit her personality, but she had learned that letting them talk would naturally carry a heavy subject into lighter conversation.

“But why Demon Knight? Because he kills a lot of demons? What if people misunderstand and think it means a knight who’s a demon?”

“I heard that meaning isn’t entirely absent…… Apparently he’s so merciless and cold, and looks so much like an evil spirit while fighting, that people started calling him that…… Maybe it also means he’s absurdly strong, to the point of not seeming human.”

“Still, comparing a person to a demon is going too far. And he doesn’t look that merciless to me.”

“Who knows? Maybe he really is a dem—”

But once light chatter crossed the line into insulting a person, she could no longer ignore it.

“Refrain from such disrespectful speculation. You know how vile and filthy demons are, yet you dare use them as a comparison for another person?”

“…My apologies.”

“Do not let rumors control you. Look at the essence of things. Rumors are clues, not a completed puzzle with every piece assembled.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Living with one’s ears completely shut to rumors and remaining ignorant of the world was not good.

But neither was opening them so wide that rumors could drag one around by the nose.

“And he is a companion of the Hero.”

After telling the soldier that, she provided one final piece of evidence that would end their doubts.

It was also the reason she had suppressed her objections and agreed to allow that Adventurer to join the reconnaissance unit.

“What?”

The Lord had concluded that the movements of the mermen were unusual.

And during the previous reconnaissance, one soldier had died while another had lost a leg.

In such a situation, adding a more capable fighter to the scouts was by no means foolish.

It had bruised her pride a little because it felt as though they were saying she alone was insufficient, but after witnessing the Adventurer’s strength, she no longer felt that way.

“So refrain from pointless talk.”

“Wow…….”

“The Hero was in our city?”

“I said refrain.”

Had telling them been a mistake?

The Lord had said that since there was a high chance they would soon be fighting together, the Hero’s visit would shortly be made public.

That was why she had mentioned it in advance.

“But if it’s the Hero, I heard she killed Lord Biryuho under a demon’s orders……”

“…….”

“Yes, ma’am. There’s no way that’s true.”

She held back the sigh threatening to escape as the soldiers murmured among themselves.

Fweeeeee—pop!

At that exact moment, the signal flare issued to everyone in preparation for emergencies lit up the night.

“Captain!”

At the same time, the people who had gone to wash their bowls came rushing back.

“Mermen are coming!”

Something had happened.