Chapter 193: Haruomi's Monologue and the Pure White Demonic Shadow

“Man, I thought it was the end of the world.”

After the battle with the Ronin ended, we arrived at the priests’ village.

However, the inside of the village was in a massive panic due to the effects of the battle from just moments ago.

I feel bad that it seems we frightened them with our battle against the Ronin.

We all helped calm them down, and with explanations from the involved parties, Yukinojo-san and Haruomi-san, they finally understood the circumstances.

“There have been ruffians who caused disturbances within the domain aiming for the next Shogun’s life before, but an outrageous, massive uproar like this one is undoubtedly a first in history.”

“Ahaha, I’m sorry…”

Fortunately, since there was no damage to the village, the priests forgave us, saying it was fine.

Yeah, they are very good people.

“We have heard about Lord Sanoukouji’s matter from Lord Omitsu. To think that gentleman would do something so audacious… we are truly sorry.”

For some reason, the priest apologized for the Head House Elder’s actions.

“It is fine. It is true that the blood of a priest flows through Sanoukouji, but you have nothing to do with that. This matter was ultimately caused by Sanoukouji as an individual.”

“Having you say that is a great help to us.”

I see, the Head House Elder who started the rebellion was a relative of the priests in this village.

In that case, the priests must have been constantly on edge.

But Yukinojo-san easily forgave them.

Saying that the Head House Elder is the Head House Elder, and the priests are the priests.

To forgive the relatives of the person who targeted your life without showing any ill will is not something easily done.

Yukinojo-san might actually become quite a good king.

“Time is precious. I wish to hold the Shogun succession ritual immediately.”

“Understood.”

When Yukinojo-san said he didn’t need a break, the priest guided us to a large mansion located deep within the village.

The mansion was quite large; it was so spacious I thought a third of the village might just be this mansion.

Mansions in this country are just incredibly wide horizontally, perhaps because they have courtyards.

“Then, Lord Yukinojo, please proceed this way.”

“Umu.”

Yukinojo-san stepped forward, and Haruomi-san tried to follow behind him, but the priest stopped him.

“I am deeply sorry, but the accompanying individuals must wait here.”

“What!? I am the Young Master’s guard!”

Saying it was unacceptable to leave Yukinojo-san alone, Haruomi-san raised his voice.

“This is the custom of the Shogun succession. Therefore, anyone other than the next Shogun is not permitted to enter beyond this point.”

“…!!”

Told that unauthorized personnel could not be allowed in, Haruomi-san’s expression grew stern.

“Beyond here is the domain of the Mikado, the true ruler of Amatsumine. Even if you are of the Shogun’s family, you must follow the customs.”

“…!”

The moment the Mikado’s name was brought up, Haruomi-san’s body stiffened.

Come to think of it, the Mikado is the true king of this country.

Seemingly deciding there was nothing he could do once that name was invoked, Haruomi-san gritted his teeth, tightly clenched his fists, and obeyed the priest’s words.

“Be at ease, Haruomi. This land is governed by the Mikado. There is no chance of any danger befalling me.”

“Young Master…”

“Rest assured. I will succeed as Shogun and return shortly.”

“Understood… sir.”

He must feel pathetic for being unable to do anything more.

Haruomi-san let out a large sigh, loosened the strength in his fists, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head to Yukinojo-san.

“Young Master, have a safe trip.”

“Umu! Then I shall go. It was a great help having Mina and Rex guard me this far as well. You should all relax and rest your bodies in the village until I return.”

“Do your best out there~.”

“Umu, leave it to me.”

Saying that, Yukinojo-san went deep into the building together with the priest.

“Did his atmosphere change a bit?”

Mina-san said something like that while watching the departing Yukinojo-san.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. When I first met him, he was just a restless guy, and well, he was like that after meeting you too, Rex. But since coming to this village, he’s been relatively calm.”

Heh, I wonder if something happened?

“…The Young Master came to this land as the next Shogun. Therefore, the current Young Master is disciplining himself as a member of the Shogun’s family.”

While we were talking about Yukinojo-san, Haruomi-san muttered.

“As a member of the Shogun’s family?”

“Umu, the Young Master is the son of the Shogun who rules the land of Amatsumine. Hence, he was strictly disciplined to conduct himself in a manner befitting the Shogun’s son in official settings, so as not to bring shame to the Shogun’s name.”

Heh, is it something like the etiquette of nobles?

“It is true that the Young Master has grown admirably as the child of the next Shogun. On this journey as well, he gained many experiences he could not have obtained staying inside the castle.”

“He certainly got to experience various things. Outrageous experiences that one normally wouldn’t be able to experience.”

Um, Mina-san? Why are you looking at me when you say that?

“But as expected, the Young Master still lacks experience. It hurts that he lost the previous lord and was unable to inherit the wisdom and mental preparedness as a statesman that he was originally supposed to be taught.”

For nobles, watching their parents’ work is important study. Haruomi-san seems particularly concerned that Yukinojo-san couldn’t experience that.

Even a merchant’s son wouldn’t be able to do anything if entrusted with his parent’s work right after he just started doing chores.

“But isn’t that what you vassals are there for?”

Mina-san is right. Vassals support their lord for times like this, after all.

“Indeed, but Lord Sanoukouji, the head of those vassals, betrayed us. Furthermore, many Domain Lords followed Lord Sanoukouji and got in our way. Even if he succeeds to the position of Shogun, the Young Master’s governance will likely be difficult.”

I see. The Head House Elder will undoubtedly have his position stripped due to this incident, and depending on the situation, there’s a high chance his peerage and territory will be confiscated.

Furthermore, the Domain Lords who assisted him will also be punished.

In that case, Yukinojo-san will have to govern the country in a situation where he lacks vassals with high track records involved in the country’s politics, like the Head House Elder.

In other words, he’ll have to start with subordinates who lack experience and ability.

That certainly sounds tough.

“Moreover, due to this incident, there is no doubt that the rebellious vassals, starting with the Head House Elder, will become Ronin.”

That’s true. Since they are the subordinates of the opponent who started the rebellion, those who weren’t directly involved might not be executed, but they will definitely lose their jobs.

“If that happens, the number of Ronin who hold unreasonable grudges against the Shogun’s family will increase even further.”

“Should we call it reaping what they sow, or should we say they were unlucky with the lord they served…”

Mina-san furrowed her brows and groaned.

At times like this, being the subordinate of someone in power is tough.

Because you can’t defy your boss’s orders.

I also saw knights in my previous life who were forced to obey unreasonable orders for similar reasons, and I myself was used conveniently just because it was “to protect the world.”

“But what is terrifying is whether the Young Master himself might tread the same path as those people.”

“Yukinojo-san will?”

Eh? What does that mean? Yukinojo-san will be the actual supreme authority of this country, right?

I don’t think there’s anyone left to rebel against him seeking power or vested interests.

The only counterpart is the Mikado, but the Mikado apparently doesn’t get involved in politics, so there’s no merit in antagonizing them.

“It has actually happened in the past history of our country as well, but there have been times when the Shogun believed the false charges of villainous vassals and punished innocent vassals without properly investigating.”

Ah, that’s a story often heard on our continent too.

The Shogun at that time must have been completely manipulated by the villains.

“The worst is the act of falling into paranoia and distancing oneself from subordinates who can offer sound opinions. No, it would be fine if it were just distancing them, but in the worst cases, it seems entire families and their retainers were executed.”

“That’s terrible.”

There are always timid kings in any era, huh.

“In fact, even during the previous lord’s reign, an incident occurred where the Shogun himself punished a senior vassal.”

“What happened then? Were they really committing crimes?”

“I do not know. A gag order was placed on the details of that matter. Because I was also still a child, I could not learn the detailed information.”

Placing a gag order is quite something. Does that mean a very serious incident occurred?

“But… considering who the other party was, it seems they could not hide who was punished.”

“Who was it?”

“Hah, a gag order was placed, you know? It would be one thing if it were a member of a warrior house where it can no longer be hidden, but why would I tell you people, who are citizens of a foreign country?”

Ah, come to think of it, that’s true.

Right. Normally you wouldn’t be told something like that.

“Anyway, for those reasons, the Young Master has many enemies. Therefore, I had hoped he would have his uncle, Lord Omitsu, act as his backer and sufficiently learn the mental preparedness of a statesman before succeeding to the position of Shogun, but… things not going that way is the unmanageable nature of the world. Sanoukouji truly caused a troublesome mess.”

Having said that much, Haruomi-san stood up and turned back to us.

“I will wait for the Young Master’s return here. You should rest your bodies as the Young Master told you.”

“Understood. Just in case, we’ll stroll through the village and check if any surviving Ronin have infiltrated before we rest.”

“Umu.”

In truth, I know there are no Ronin around thanks to my search magic, though.

Still, I need to create elements that can give Haruomi-san peace of mind so he can wait comfortably.

“Shall we go, then?”

“Yeah.”

We walked around the village while greeting the passing villagers.

“For coming to a village of priests, how should I say this…”

“Yeah, it’s a very normal village.”

While walking through the village, the impression that suddenly came to mind slipped out.

That’s right. No matter how you looked at it, this village was a normal village.

Because it was a village of priests, I thought it would be a village more like the temples in our country…

But except for a few people, their attire was just that of normal villagers.

Those people over there are heading to the fields with hoes, even.

And when we arrived at the village entrance, the gatekeepers guarding the entrance and people who looked like hunters were talking with difficult faces.

“Umm, did something happen?”

When I called out, the gatekeepers looked our way.

“You guys are… ah, the amazing guests from earlier.”

“Ahaha.”

Sorry for startling you earlier.

Anyway, the gatekeeper explained the situation to us as well.

“Well, the monsters have increased a bit too much and it’s dangerous, so we were talking about how it might be better to cull them earlier than planned.”

“Cull them?”

“Yeah, lately a monster we’ve never even seen before took up residence in the nearby forest. It seems the monsters in the vicinity have gathered in the forest because of that guy.”

“A monster you’ve never even seen before…”

Hmm, what could it be? But the fact that monsters are gathering means it might be a mutant species.

If so, it’s dangerous to leave it alone.

“I mean, isn’t culling monsters with just this many people impossible? You need to gather more.”

Indeed, just as Mina-san said, this is far too few hands.

It’s just two gatekeepers and one hunter.

“We requested the Domain Lord to send personnel for monster subjugation. But the monsters are increasing even while we wait. Besides, it’s not like it’s unrelated to you guests.”

Then, the gatekeeper said something intriguing.

“The fact that you came to this village means your goal is the ritual performed once every few decades, right? But to perform that ritual, you have to go to the ruins outside the village. And to reach the ruins, you have to pass through the forest.”

Ah, I see. That certainly wasn’t someone else’s problem.

“Besides, for everyone in the village to be able to forage in the forest, we want to reduce the number of monsters by even one while we can.”

True, the forest is an important place that provides many blessings.

They can’t just avoid it because it’s dangerous.

It’s natural to want to reduce the number of monsters even a little to quickly resolve the problem.

And if it also relates to Yukinojo-san’s ritual, there’s no reason for us not to get involved.

“Then, we’ll help.”

“Eh!? Is that okay!?”

Hearing that we would help, the hunter raised a surprised voice.

“We make our main living exterminating monsters, so we’ll be of some use as fighting power. We can use attack magic reasonably well, too.”

“It’s not just ‘reasonably’ well. But well, we guarded the guests who had business in this village all the way here. You can expect a fair amount from us.”

Saying so, Mina-san also offered to help while winking at me.

Yeah, this feeling of getting across without needing to say anything. It feels like we’re comrades, which is nice.

“Wow, to be guards at your age is quite impressive.”

Hearing that we came as guards, the hunter raised his voice in admiration.

“However, we don’t have the kind of money we can pay you folks.”

But the gatekeeper raised a bewildered voice, saying they couldn’t pay us a reward for our help.

“Umm, think of it as… an apology for startling everyone when we arrived here.”

Yeah, we scared them really badly with the battle against the Ronin earlier, after all.

“Ah, that. That really surprised us.”

“Yeah, I thought it was the end of the world.”

Umm, I’m truly sorry.

“But well, you’re the owners of that outrageous ship. We can definitely expect a lot from you!”

“But is it really okay to have you help?”

“Yes, leave it to us. We have free time until Yukinojo-san’s business is finished anyway.”

I thump my chest and tell them to leave it to us.

An acquaintance in my previous life said that at times like this, showing yourself brimming with confidence removes the other party’s anxiety.

“I see, if that’s the case, we definitely want your cooperation.”

“Yes, please leave it to us!”

“This is a real lifesaver.”

In this way, we ended up culling the monsters that took up residence in the forest.

“By the way, what kind of guy is this monster you’ve never seen before?”

Just in case, I ask about the monster causing the uproar.

There’s a high chance it’s a mutant species, so it’s better to have as much information about the opponent as possible.

However, the hunter scratched his head in a troubled manner.

“Thing is, it was in a dim part of the forest, and the opponent was fast and dangerous, so I only saw it from a distance.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Alright. The monster I saw had a completely white body. Anyway, it was fast and strong, and fought fearlessly against monsters bigger than itself. Moreover, that thing defeated the Great Magic Bear, the strongest around these parts.”

A Great Magic Bear, is that a monster unique to this country? From the name, it sounds big and like it uses magic.

Even so, small and white, but a monster with a strong fighting spirit, huh.

With just this, the information is scarce and I don’t really know.

But it seems certain that it’s a dangerous opponent.

“White, small… I feel like I remember something like that, or maybe not…”

Mina-san didn’t seem to have any idea either and couldn’t identify the monster.

Well, in the natural world, being white is practically like telling your opponent where you are unless you’re in a snowy northern country.

“Shall we go, then, Mina-san?”

“Yeah, let’s beat it in a flash so Yukinojo can quickly head to his ritual!”

◆ The Mysterious Monster ◆

—Gururururuuuu—

Below my eyes were hundreds of monsters.

The monsters varied: strong monsters, weak monsters, monsters excelling in specific abilities.

Furthermore, their species were not uniform.

There were many species; some were hostile to each other, and some were in a predator-prey relationship.

Yet, those monsters were waiting quietly for orders in front of me without fighting.

Waiting for the orders of me, the King of Monsters!

Fu, fufufu, fuhahahahahahahaha!!

Yes, I had founded a monster kingdom here.

Not just the monsters in this forest. I defeated and commanded the monsters of the mountains, rivers, plains, and even other forests, forming a massive legion that obeys me!

By the way, the fools who defied me were swiftly defeated and deliciously eaten.

The monsters of this land are spicy and tastyyy. An oriental flavor!

Good taste, good strength, good loyalty; the monsters of this country are extremely capable.

With this, they will surely become a mighty and elite legion that faithfully obeys my commands!

Fufufu, Master isn’t here, it’s the beeeest!

I think I’ll just live in this forest without thinking about overthrowing the Master anymore!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The moment I thought that, my legion vanished along with a sudden roar.

Cleanly and completely.

I, who had been watching from a tree, fell from the vanished tree and plopped onto the completely leveled ground.

…Haaaaaaah!?

What what what!? What just happened!?

Why is the surrounding area a vacant lot!?

Where is my forest!?

Where is my grand legion!? Where are my elite subordinates!?

What happened!?

However, no matter where I looked, not a single hair of my subordinates could be found.

No, there was someone! Two shadows were approaching here from beyond the vacant lot.

Were there survivors…!?

Hm? Huh? They’re not… mon… sters.

“※※※※?”

Geeeeeehhhhhhh it’s Masterrrrrrrrrr!?

Why!? Why is Master in a place like this!?

“※※※※※!”

Awawawawawa, I need to run, but my body is trembling and won’t move.

Was I found out!? My grand future plan to form a massive legion of monsters and rule this land!?

“※※※※”

Gyaaaah! I’ve been caughttttt!

Why!? Even though I ran away to the depths of the mountains far from the coast so Master wouldn’t find me! Even though I thought it was the perfect chance to escape from Master!

Yeah, I didn’t think Master would die from a storm of that level! Dammit!

“※※※※”

Master’s hand is placed on my head.

Awawawawa, do you intend to crush my head!?

I-It’s a misunderstanding, Master! I don’t have even the slightest intention of rebelling against you!

Tinkle, tinkle…

Oof, I leaked.

◆ Mina ◆

“Wow, that’s an incredible number of monsters.”

Rex, who was searching for the monster in question with search magic, raised a surprised voice.

“Or rather, we figured it out without even needing to use search magic.”

Because the trees around here are tall, we were searching from the sky using a combination of flight magic and search magic, but there was no need to do that; we found the monsters’ location immediately.

After all, an outrageous number of monsters were gathered in a corner of the forest.

Because we could see a massive horde of monsters so large that it was obvious even when hidden by the tall trees.

Hmm, I’m glad we searched from the sky.

If we had been searching while walking on the ground, we would have run headfirst into a horde of monsters of that size without knowing anything.

“That’s way beyond just the monsters of this forest, isn’t it. Just how many are there…?”

Despite the tall trees making it difficult to search from the sky, we could confirm that the horde of monsters spread across a large part of the forest.

I’m scared to know the exact number…

“Hmm, there are a few thousand of them.”

“A few thousand!?”

What is that!? Are all the monsters in this country gathered here!?

“Wh-What are we going to do!? If that number of monsters attacked, we wouldn’t be able to defend the village, you know!?”

With that village’s defensive walls, a siege is impossible.

We could probably take Yukinojo and the others and run, but escaping while also protecting the priests is impossible.

With Rex‘s flying ship… I wonder if we could barely fit everyone on board if we didn’t have any luggage?

“You’re right. It’s a hassle, so shall we just subjugate them all right here?”

“Subjugate!? All of them!?”

“Yes, let’s defeat them all at once with Area of Effect magic.”

“AoE magic, you say, but there are thousands of them, right!? Ah—but can you do it, Rex? But how? It’s fine at first, but they’ll scatter immediately. If the boss leading the monsters escapes, it’ll be even harder to deal with them next time.”

Rex‘s magic is amazing, but even so, I think defeating thousands of monsters all at once is impossible.

We’ll have to divide the subjugation into dozens of attempts.

In that case, we first need to identify where the boss is.

Because there are monsters that are much smarter than humans think.

Especially the bosses that lead large packs; many of them excel not only in power but also in wisdom.

“Yes, I know. That is why…”

Rex replied, indicating he was aware of that.

Does he have a good plan to solve the problem?

Right, it’s exactly because he has one that he’s trying to execute something so reckless.

“I will encompass all the monsters entirely within the range and round them up in one fell swoop!”

“It was a far more brute-force operation than I thought—!”

C-Can he do it!? Defeating thousands of monsters at once!?

From my memories up until now, the magic Rex has used was certainly all amazing.

But I have never seen an outrageous magic that subjugates thousands of monsters in a single blow.

Does magic that sounds like it belongs in a myth actually exist!?

“B-Besides, if you defeat that many monsters, will the forest be okay!?”

“Let’s see. Subjugating this many monsters without causing any collateral damage is indeed a bit troublesome. So let’s just swiftly clear the whole forest to bare land, and then use plant magic and special fertilizer for a rapid-regeneration, not just rapid-cultivation, of the forest!”

The solution was brute force too!?

“Ah, please rest assured. I’ll cast search magic so that no harm comes to humans.”

“A-Ah, yeah. Right. That’s important.”

“Since the monsters were kind enough to gather in one place, we can keep the damage to the surrounding land to a minimum right now.”

Ah, so he was trying to round them up all at once while considering those things too.

“Also, I’ll narrow the annihilation radius to the absolute limit with the range designation.”

Saying that, when Rex began to concentrate his consciousness, dense magic power began to gather around him.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!!

Even I, who am not skilled at sensing presences like a thief, could tell that the forest animals, sensing the anomaly, were hurriedly fleeing.

“Won’t the monsters notice this?”

“We are far away from the horde of monsters, so it’s fine. The monsters on the outermost edge might notice, but I’ve already erected a barrier enclosing the monsters, so escaping is impossible.”

“Eh!? Since when!?”

He didn’t just prepare to defeat the monsters, but even a barrier to prevent them from escaping!?

“Alright, here I go! INFERNO COUNTRY!”

What appeared from Rex‘s magic was a surprisingly normal ball of flame.

The fireball was fired towards the ground and popped with a pon.

Could it be that he failed? It was the moment I thought that.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

“…!?”

Along with an explosive roar, the flames spread throughout the forest in an instant, creating a massive, distorted circle.

“Wha-!?”

It truly was in an instant.

That small fireball swallowed the monsters gathered in the forest in a single moment.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-What is that?”

“It’s the wide-range annihilation magic INFERNO COUNTRY. FLAME INFERNO is a weeding magic that burns in a straight line, but this one is a range-designated weeding magic for exterminating pests and harmful beasts over a wide area.”

“Range-designated?”

“Yes, to clean up lands or fields with irregular shapes, you can burn only the sections designated by the caster. So look, if you observe closely, there are trees remaining even within the range, right? Those are places where there were no monsters or parts with important trees.”

Now that he mentions it, there are certainly trees and places that haven’t burned despite being within the range.

“This magic alone would be fine, but it’s an important source of sustenance for the priests and the forest animals, after all. I protected them with the barrier magic from earlier. Ah, I also protected the normal beasts that failed to escape so they wouldn’t jump out into the flames.”

“Isn’t that being too thoroughly considerate!?”

Wait!? What is that!? He didn’t just attack a massive area, but excluded designated parts from the attack range!? And deployed a barrier of the same scale at the same time!?

How do you even do something like thaaaat!?

“Though I couldn’t do anything about the plants right at the monsters’ feet.”

“That’s more than enough!”

The scale of his consideration is on a completely different level!

“Ah, it’s done. Wait, huh? One of them survived?”

“Eh?”

At Rex‘s puzzled voice, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Could there really be a monster that survived that!?

A monster that survived such monster-like magic!?

“Let’s go. That is likely the boss of the pack the priests were talking about.”

“…Right.”

At Rex‘s words, I activated my physical enhancement magic to the maximum.

A monster that withstands Rex‘s magic; what kind of monstrous battle is this going to turn into? Desperately suppressing the terror in my heart, I follow Rex.

We didn’t land directly by the opponent, but touched down on the ground at a slight distance.

Rex took the vanguard, and I, as the rearguard, followed from a distance behind.

“I probably won’t be of much use, but I’ll at least serve as a distraction!”

Anticipating the fierce battle about to occur, I involuntarily gulped.

“Huh?”

Just as I thought that, Rex let out a strange voice.

Then he casually approached the single remaining monster.

“Hey, aren’t you being way too unguarded!?”

But Rex, not sensing my worry at all, kept getting closer and closer to the monster.

Conversely, the monster seemed bewildered by Rex‘s attitude.

And then Rex confronted the monster.

…Wait, huh? Compared to Rex, that monster looks awfully small…?

“As I thought, you’re Mofu-mofu!”

“Eh!? Mofu-mofu!?”

What!? The rumored monster was Mofu-mofu!?

“I see, the defensive magic imbued in the horn ring I gave you activated and protected you from the INFERNO COUNTRY.”

“Kyu, kyukyuuu…”

At Rex‘s words, Mofu-mofu trembled and shivered.

“I see, you were being chased by those monsters and running around. It’s okay now.”

Rex gently picked Mofu-mofu up.

“Kyu!?”

Mofu-mofu, being lifted, let out a frightened cry.

“It’s okay, Mofu-mofu. I chased all the scary guys away.”

“Kyufuu~”

Saying that, Rex gently patted Mofu-mofu’s head, and Mofu-mofu, perhaps truly relieved, let out a cry as if all the strength had left its body, and…

Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle…

It peed itself.

“Whoa!? What’s wrong, Mofu-mofu!?”

“Yeah, of course it would. It’s terrifying when the monsters around you suddenly burst into flames and burn to death.”

I thought that if I encountered the same situation, I would definitely pee myself too, but I chose to keep that to myself.

◆

“Even so, I’m glad we found Mofu-mofu. In a way, Mofu-mofu was the hardest one to find.”

“Kyukyuuu~”

It must have been truly relieved to reunite with us.

Mofu-mofu was completely limp and drained of energy in my arms.

“Come to think of it, that’s true. Jairo and the others would have searched in towns or actively looked for us themselves, but this little one wouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Right. And in the worst case, because it’s a monster, there was a risk of it being attacked by humans or caught to be put on display.”

“Ah, yeah, in that case, the opponent would be in danger.”

Anyway, I’m truly glad we could reunite.

As we headed toward the village, rejoicing in our reunion with Mofu-mofu, we encountered several armed villagers along the way.

“Huh? What’s wrong, everyone?”

Among the villagers were the gatekeepers we had spoken to at the entrance earlier.

“Oh, you guys were safe! There was a sudden loud noise, so we got worried and came to back you up!”

Seeing that we were safe, the gatekeeper let out a sigh of relief with a reassured face.

“Sorry to make you worry. We subjugated the monster that was leading the horde, along with the entire horde itself, so there is no need to worry anymore.”

“What!? You already took it down!?”

“And the whole horde too!?”

“Yes.”

“You guys are amazing!”

The gatekeepers, truly surprised and excited, showered us with praise.

“We didn’t do anything that impressive.”

“As for me, I didn’t do anything at all.”

“No, no, please don’t be humble. It was all we could do to drive away one or two monsters. Thanks to you, everyone in the village can sleep peacefully.”

“Ahaha, having you say that makes our efforts worthwhile.”

“It’s not ‘our’. I didn’t do anything this time.”

Having explained to the gatekeepers that the monster threat was gone, we decided to return to the village together with everyone.

Because it’s about time Yukinojo-san’s Shogun succession ritual should be finishing up.

It was when I thought that.

Suddenly, the sound of something exploding echoed from the direction of the village.

“Wh-What!?”

“Look! Smoke is coming from the village!”

At the sudden plume of black smoke, the villagers raised voices of unrest.

“Mina-san!”

“Yeah!”

“Everyone, we’ll head back to the village first!”

No sooner had I said that than we rushed to the village using flight magic without waiting for a reply.

And as the village came into view, we noticed smoke rising from a corner of the mansion located deep within.

“L-Lord Rex! Lady Mina!”

Looking down, the priests who had welcomed us were waving their hands at us, so we decided to land and ask what happened.

“What happened!?”

The priests were in a considerable panic, so there was no doubt an extraordinary incident had occurred.

“I-It’s terrible! Lord Yukinojo was attacked by a Majin, and there are casualties!”

“Wh-What did you say!?”

In this way, having returned from finishing one job, we were dragged into the next incident without a moment’s rest.