#5 Beast Hunting (2)
Elric immediately left the mansion and headed towards the village with Tyria.
The scenery of the village we arrived at was eye-popping.
“Um… I want to be serious.”
I saw several collapsed houses.
The dug-out ground or the collapsed wooden fence in the distance told us that something had pushed in with force and overturned the village.
It will be a courtesy magician.
“I’ll talk to the village chief for a while.”
“Yes. I will wait here.”
They could have gone together, but Elric didn’t.
Rather, it was because it was faster to investigate personally.
It might have been 10 years ago, but Elric had faced countless beasts in the past years as a mercenary. It was because the monster’s habitat was often used strategically in war.
Now that we have reached the point where we can even identify the species of the demons only by their traces, wouldn’t it be better to use the surest method?
First, Elric went to the outskirts of the village to check the fragments of the wooden fence.
‘Did they cut it?’
It seems so.
At least if it had been headbutted, it wouldn’t have broken so cleanly and straight.
Speaking of wolf-type monsters, the ones that come to mind are Blade Wolf and Caliso Wolf.
Each is a distinctive monster with long claws or horns.
If there’s one more thing that could be a clue… .
‘The casualties are less than expected.’
Despite the fact that the demons invaded the village, there were no dead people or people holding funerals.
At most, there were only a few wounded, but this made the identity of the demons clearer.
‘It’s Blade Wolf.’
Among the monsters, it is a monster that belongs to the upper class.
A demonic beast that uses mana to wrap a sword over its claws, and enjoys hunting for play as well as hunting for survival.
It had to be seen as a premonition for the next hunt that he only planted fear and went back.
If it had been a little bit later, a big fire would have struck the village.
‘I got caught by a vicious guy.’
What should I do with this?
It was the moment Elric was thinking about.
“house owner.”
Tyria is back.
“I have heard all the stories. Please return to the mansion for now.”
“Ah, not so.”
Have you just finished your investigation?
No, given her personality, it was obvious that she would have put aside all the greetings and ostentation and just listened to the main subject.
Elric followed her into the carriage, and it was not until later that she heard what she had learned.
The more I listened, the more convinced I was.
Blade Wolf is right.
The question now is whether she knows this.
“I’ll have to go hunting first. I do not know when it will come down to the village again, so I plan to prepare as quickly as possible.”
“Did you accurately identify the beast’s species?”
“Village residents said they couldn’t figure out the exact shape. However, since I have memories of seeing something like a huge blade, I’m guessing it’s Caliso Wolf.”
Elric’s expression hardened.
‘Can not be done.’
There was an indescribable gap between Caliso Wolf and Blade Wolf.
How can a witch who uses mana as a weapon and a witch who only believes in the body be the same?
It was obvious that if he went out assuming Caliso Wolf, he would come back as a corpse to become a manpower on the hunt.
‘What is needed to hunt the Blade Wolf is a knight.’
It also had to be a mana handling level article.
If mana is overlaid on the sword to increase cutting power and the wolf’s claws are not cut head-on, sacrifice in the hunting process becomes inevitable.
Elric, unable to explain this, groaned and soon remembered one thing he had forgotten.
“… Ah, then the knights will be mobilized!”
Territory knights are basically mana users.
If there was even one person who knew how to use mana, it would be enough to bring him to the fore.
I thought and asked
“hmm?”
The answer was in a form Elric hadn’t thought of.
“What do you mean, there are no knights in our territory.”
Elric gaped.
*
I wanted to say it because it was nonsense, but there was a reason I couldn’t bear it.
It was because of Tyria’s explanation that was immediately added.
“The last knight of Yeongji was Sir Zig of the Yubin family. He retired eight years ago due to old age.”
“You haven’t appointed another knight since then?”
“Yeah, the reason is that there weren’t enough talented people… Above all, the article is not good value for money.”
It was a change of the times.
Now, the name that dominates the continent’s battlefield was ‘gunpowder’.
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“… Well, I guess so.”
Knights were money-eating hippos that required astronomical amounts of money to recruit, nurture, maintain, and manage.
On the other hand, look at the matchlock, a gun is a simple and brutal weapon that can turn even a farmer into an armed force with just one weapon. Moreover, the level was enough to harm a well-trained knight.
Of course, the price of the matchlock was also astronomical, but it was not more than the money needed to foster a knight.
It may be a place where large-scale troops are operated like the battlefields of the West, but now there was no need to raise knights in such a lonely rural territory.
It’s because it’s enough to just give a properly trained soldier a gun.
Suddenly bitterness and pity filled Elric’s stomach.
Elric still admired the knights and respected their strength.
Why not, since he himself survived as a war mercenary and reached the top where he could climb with a sword, he had no choice but to be favorable to the operation of knights.
‘The downfall of the knight… .’
The words I heard on the battlefield one day touched my skin again.
“… Or, did I make you feel uncomfortable?”
Tyria asked cautiously.
Elric quickly collected his expression and shook his head.
“no. Well, I’m just sorry. I don’t know if you know, but my childhood dream was to be a knight. But it’s not that I’m saddened to hear that the article disappeared.”
Elric replied with a small smile and added a word close to advice.
“… Still, don’t knights have power that guns can’t control? I want you to reconsider the matter of recruiting a knight.”
How could a lead bullet completely break a knight’s sword?
Guns and swords are different from the high point.
Even Elric himself was confident that he could wipe out hundreds of matchlocks by himself if he was given a single sword, and he had actually done such a thing.
For the future of Yeongji, it is better to have at least one knight.
It was right after he uttered the words of conviction.
“Let’s reconsider that part. … No, if the head of the household thinks so, then that’s the right thing to do. After all, this territory must be run by the head of the family.”
Elric was startled.
It was the reason why the part that had been neglected was revealed.
“house owner?”
“… nothing. It’s just because the wind is cold.”
I don’t think there’s any need to do any more complicated thinking now.
Elric answered as if making excuses and turned his gaze to the passing scenery.
That was the moment.
Seruk-
Her fur cloak stretched out and wrapped around Elric’s shoulders.
Elric’s body stiffened.
Rolling eyes turned to her.
“This… .”
“They say it’s cold, so the cloak is big, so two people should have no problem covering it.”
Her gaze was directed straight ahead.
The body is a bit tighter.
The arms touched, and the fingertips grazed, and a cold breeze came and went.
The bridge of her nose was slightly red.
Elric blurted out his words.
“… You look cold, but it’s okay if you don’t.”
“It is not unbearable. Because the family head’s body is more important than mine.”
“that… .”
“I am okay.”
It was a firm statement for some reason.
Elric couldn’t resist further rejection.
The gaze was directed to the front.
Dalgrak, moongrak.
As the wagon rocked, the fingertips kept bumping, and at one point, the two hands, among them the little fingers, became entangled.
Neither of them knew who did it first.
*
It was the morning of the next day.
Eventually, after many discussions, Tyria decided to mobilize knights for this hunt, and requested knights from Gideon, an adjacent territory.
Elric expected the process to be quite difficult, but Gideon gave the article easier than expected.
The two were now at the front gate of the mansion to greet the knight.
“The Yubin family and the Gideon family have been interacting with each other for more than five generations, so there was nothing difficult. furthermore… .”
“furthermore?”
“… no. You can see this part for yourself.”
Tyria shook her head.
Elric tilted her head in doubt, but she seemed unwilling to say more.
In the end, you will have no choice but to see it with your own eyes.
It was a thought moment.
“Here you are.”
Elric’s head flashed and he faced forward.
There was a man riding a sturdy brown horse to the mansion.
He was a man whose full plate reflected the dazzling sunlight of winter, and only his silhouette was visible.
It was big, and the action of running the horse was exciting.
‘He’s pretty well-disciplined.’
I wonder if the level is about as high as mana user.
Elric, who looked closely at him with judgment, was able to confirm the knight’s face before long.
That was the moment.
“… !”
Elric’s eyes widened.
“Wow~.”
An exaggerated voice rang out.
As the distance drew closer, the horse slowed down.
The face of the man on top of the horse is hard.
However, there was also an open look somewhere.
Elric knew him.
It’s the first time in 10 years, but there was a person in front of Elric who was familiar enough to recognize.
Elric’s complexion brightened.
“Luten!”
He was Lutten, the first son of a butcher, a close friend who had an accident together as a child.
Lutten laughed brightly and shouted.
“Leader! long time no see!”
It was a truly unexpected reunion.