Chapter 43: Those who work in Shadows and those who works behind them

“W-What happened!?”

Something unbelievable just happened right before my eyes. Suddenly, a sideways tornado appeared and blew away every single monster in front of us.

It’s not just us, the Knight Order, but the adventurers too are bewildered by the current scene. Which means it wasn’t something the adventurers did either?

No, in the first place, a sideways tornado is impossible. I’ve never seen such an absurd phenomenon.

“Oi! Can something like that be done with magic!?”

I demanded an explanation from the Court Mages who were waiting nearby.

“……”

However, the mages just stood there dumbfounded.

“Answer me!”

“Hah!? Ah, no, I apologize.”

Scolded by me, the mages finally came to their senses and bowed their heads.

“That doesn’t matter! Well!? Was that magic!?”

But the mages shook their heads.

“No, we have never seen magic like that. Most likely, even Lancaster of the Wind, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Magic from the Magic Empire, wouldn’t be able to use magic like that.”

The mages cited a mage from the Magic Empire of Angelt as an example, but being told that doesn’t help me understand if it’s amazing or not! Honestly, this is why experts are…

“Then does that mean the tornado just now wasn’t magic?”

However, the mages shook their heads again.

“No, we have never heard of a tornado occurring sideways either. It is most likely a magical power.”

“Is it possible or impossible, which is it!”

Ah geez, this is why conversations with experts never progress! Enough already!

“It is most likely a Lost Item concealing the power of Lost Magic.”

“A Lost Item, you say!?”

Lost Items, magic items created by ancient civilizations that perished long ago, concealing terrifying power.

The value of those things, very, very rarely excavated from ruins and such, is immeasurable, said to be worth thousands, no, depending on the item, tens of thousands of gold coins. And there are even stories that some items have a value that cannot be replaced by money.

The mage is saying such a Lost Item was used in this subjugation.

“A Lost Item…”

If this were just a normal subjugation, the existence of a Lost Item would have been something to rejoice over. After all, several S-Rank monsters have been confirmed in this large-scale subjugation.

But, concerning this particular subjugation, the existence of a Lost Item was something that must not be. Because…

“It would be troublesome if this subjugation didn’t fail, you see…”

Yes, the massive outbreak of monsters currently occurring around the Royal Capital was all caused by me, Commander Towmel Takano, and the Takano Marquis House…

“Use the scout unit to find the adventurer who used that Lost Item just now.”

I immediately issued instructions to my adjutant. Because those who hinder my plans need to be eliminated quickly.

“And as soon as you find them, get rid of them and seize the Lost Item.”

“Yes sir!”

My direct subordinates immediately began to move. They are people who share my aspirations. In other words, existences on the side intentionally causing the massive outbreak of monsters.

“I don’t need unnecessary impurities in my beautiful plan.”

◆

“Alriiight, I successfully deceived the Knight Order’s eyes and moved to a place out of their sight. Now let’s prioritize targeting monsters that look as strong as possible.”

Having gone ahead in the confusion of activating the magic, I set my sights on S-Rank monsters and began taking action. I’ve already obtained information from the guild about S-Rank monsters they want prioritized for defeat. Just because there was sighting information doesn’t mean we know exactly where they are, but if I move around thoroughly while using detection magic, I should find them soon.

“Found one while I was saying that!”

I confirmed a power clearly stronger than the surrounding monsters ahead.

“That is… a Gold Tiger!”

A Gold Tiger, true to its name, a tiger monster clad in golden fur. Even in my previous life, many people sought its fur because of its beauty.

“This is a good omen. I hear that guy is worth good money.”

Huh? Come to think of it, I should have heard that Gold Tigers were hunted to extinction for their fur, but it was alive, huh.

“Well, fine details don’t matter.”

Anyway, Gold Tigers are also subjugation targets, so it’s fine, right? The Gold Tiger also seemed to have confirmed me, and came towards me ready for battle.

“Now then, how should I defeat it?”

Fighting a Gold Tiger is quite tricky. After all, that guy nullifies or significantly attenuates light attribute magic with its vaunted golden fur.

Though wind attribute, lightning-based magic, which is close to light attribute, also has poor compatibility with Gold Tigers for that reason. So the strategy of paralyzing it with electricity doesn’t work.

In my previous life, I only thought of them as enemies so I just defeated them, but defeating it as unharmed as possible like this time raises the difficulty.

“Ah, so that’s why adventurers use their wisdom to defeat monsters.”

Securing materials in the best possible condition under limited conditions. Remembering the good condition of the Gold Tiger furs I saw sometime in my previous life, I pay my respects to the adventurers’ ingenuity and efforts, even now.

“I can’t lose either!”

That’s right, now I am an adventurer. Then I’ll try to subjugate the Gold Tiger in as beautiful a state as possible!

“Alright, no weapons or magic that damages the fur. Let’s finish this with hand-to-hand combat here!”

I activated Attribute Enhancement, a higher-tier magic of Body Enhancement Magic. However, what I’m enhancing this time isn’t an attribute like fire or water.

“Multi-stage Body Enhancement, Physical Boost!!”

Super Body Enhancement Magic that further specializes the physical performance improvement effect of Body Enhancement Magic, that is Physical Boost. This magic consumes several times the magic power of normal Body Enhancement Magic, but in exchange, it can increase physical abilities several times over Body Enhancement Magic. If the effect of normal Body Enhancement Magic is 3 to 5 times enhancement, Physical Boost demonstrates an effect of more than 10 times. Moreover, it’s a specification that strengthens infinitely by the amount of magic power put into it.

“Here I go!”

I just simply headed towards the Gold Tiger. But that speed was incomparable to before.

“..!!?”

Seeing me suddenly accelerate at several times the speed, the Gold Tiger warily slowed down. But that’s a bad move. Against me who is accelerating, the Gold Tiger who slowed down cannot respond to my speed.

“Hah!”

Immediately after the Gold Tiger was bewildered, I jumped into its chest, half-turned my body, and went around to its side. Because the enemy that should have been right in front of it suddenly disappeared, the Gold Tiger hurriedly looked for me.

“Too slow!”

I mounted the Gold Tiger, grabbed its head, and twisted it sideways with all my might.

“Gah!?”

With a cracking sound, the Gold Tiger expired without even letting out a scream.

“Phew, if you don’t want to damage the fur, you just have to destroy the insides!”

Yeah, this might be a good method. It doesn’t look damaged at all from the outside either, so let’s continue destroying prey from the inside at this rate.

“Hmm, there are other S-Rank reactions too.”

The reactions are outside our subjugation area, but well, the guild did say they wanted S-Ranks prioritized for defeat, so I’ll just go for a bit. It doesn’t change the fact that it’ll become money if I defeat them.

◆

“It’s terrible, Commander Towmel. The reactions of S-Rank monsters around the Royal Capital are disappearing at a tremendous rate.”

“What did you say!?”

An unbelievable report from a subordinate reached me, who was waiting at the main camp.

“What do you mean!? S-Rank monsters, you know!? Are you saying another Knight Order is participating in the subjugation somewhere!?”

S-Rank monsters are opponents that can’t possibly be defeated unless it’s a large-scale group sweep by a Knight Order, or S-Rank adventurers with some kind of trump card.

And they’re being defeated at a tremendous rate!?

“No, there is no information that any Knight Order other than ours is participating, and no such figures have been confirmed by the scout soldiers either.”

“What do you mean!?”

No, in the first place, so that they wouldn’t be defeated in this subjugation, the S-Rank monsters should have been moved outside the subjugation area, except for a few fast ones serving as decoys.

“How many were defeated?”

“Already seven reactions have disappeared.”

“Impossible!?”

Seven!? Impossible! Do you know how much time and damage it takes to subjugate one S-Rank! Moreover, it hasn’t even been two hours since the large-scale subjugation began, you know!?

“What on earth is happening!? …Don’t tell me!?”

That’s right, that sideways tornado that happened at the start of the subjugation, that must have been a decoy to draw my attention! Did someone turn the scouts’ eyes here so we wouldn’t notice the concentrated subjugation of S-Rank monsters!

“Don’t tell me… they noticed our plan!?”