50 — Chapter 49

I had certainly heard of the existence of monsters before.

Under the influence of something abnormal filling a magic stone mine, unnatural creatures would appear.

From the sound of it, it was like a failed version of those stories about leaving a corpse in a magic stone mine and having it come back to life.

That was why people said it was not good to work in the mines for too long, and it was also one of the reasons beastfolk were made to work there aside from their physical strength. Even the reason someone like Kengo was paid such a high salary as a mine overseer was probably a kind of hazard allowance for that sort of eerie danger.

After hearing the confused and incoherent report from the errand boy who had come to the church, I ran across the square and burst into Iiria’s mansion, where a grim-faced Iiria and Marks were waiting for us.

“Kururu!”

Iiria was usually spoiled and selfish with Kururu, but in truth it felt as though Kururu was the one more dependent on Iiria.

But right now, Iiria looked deeply anxious and clung tightly to Kururu.

“Marks, have you heard anything more specific?”

Holding Iiria as she asked, Kururu spoke.

“Nope. We only just got the first report from a beastfolk kid. And even that was all stammering and hard to make sense of. All we know is that the remaining beastfolk are rescuing the comrades left behind in the mine while working to seal it off. There might be more news by now, but…”

This was not a world with telephones or anything like that.

“U-um, what about Kengo?”

At that question, Marks neither nodded nor shook his head.

“You were born on this island, weren’t you? Has a monster ever appeared before?”

At Kururu’s question, Marks shook his head.

“No. There are old stories, sure, but we’re talking about the time of my granddad’s granddad. And the stories from back then… they’re not exactly pleasant to hear.”

“M-monsters are really that bad?”

When I asked, Marks bravely shrugged.

“In the legends, there’s even a story about a lizard crawling through the tunnels turning into a dragon so huge you could only look up at it. But most of the time, what supposedly comes crawling out of the depths of the tunnels are more like half-rotted creatures all falling apart.”

If that were all, would it really cause such a commotion that the tunnels needed to be sealed?

Or was it some kind of infectious presence?

“So what exactly did the beastfolk kid say?”

At Kururu’s question, Marks replied with a laugh, like someone talking about something he himself could hardly believe.

“He said that very dragon showed up.”

Kururu caught her breath.

But this girl had surely protected Iiria every time hardship had come upon them and made it this far.

“Yorinobu.”

“Y-yes?”

“Bring up every magic stone we have in storage from the cellar. They say dragons govern one of the four great elements of the world. Let’s pray we have the right attribute.”

What would happen if we had only the wrong ones?

In a game, that would be called nullifying elemental attacks.

“That’s right, the magic stones. We should stop the work at the workshop too. We might need a mountain of magic stones with all kinds of effects after this.”

Marks said that.

“If the dragon story is true, there’s no way Kururu-chan can handle it alone, right? We’ll need to request a subjugation force from the provincial capital or somewhere, but if that happens, we’ll need to fight using our stock of magic stones. If they’ve all been turned into useless attributes, we might run short.”

“By myself—”

Kururu said that, but when she had used a wind magic stone to dig the hole, she had nearly been seriously injured.

Without even knowing how to control magic properly, there was no way she could jump straight into real combat.

Especially if the opponent was really a dragon.

“First, we gather information. After telling the workshop to stop work, let’s borrow the wisdom of someone who might know about monsters.”

“Is there anyone like that on this island?”

This was a tiny island on the very edge of the empire, remote even by frontier standards.

And yet I had only just recently met someone who had wandered all over the world before ending up here.

“Marks-san, could I ask you to send a messenger?”

The name I gave was Gorgon’s.

By the time word was sent to the workshop to stop work and news of the monster was passed along, it seemed the story had already spread through the town.

The atmosphere turned chaotic, and from inside the mansion I could clearly see people hurrying frantically across the square.

Everyone at the workshop knew what monsters were, but only as things from fairy tales and legends.

If anything, the story about corpses left in the mine coming back to life seemed to be the more ordinary occurrence.

I was curious about what sort of logic that followed… but that was something to look into after the panic had settled.

By the time the elderly Gorgon, dragged along by Marks, arrived at the mansion puffing and wheezing, the church seemed to have remembered that it had duties beyond collecting donations and was ringing its bells furiously to warn the town of danger.

“Gorgon-san.”

“Haah, haah, I’m not young anymore—”

When Kururu handed him a drink, he gulped it down and let his shoulders sag.

“I heard about the monster. Dodol and the others were already arming themselves and shouting with spirit, but… a dragon, of all things. Astonishing.”

“Um, well—”

“You mean the matter of subjugating the monster, yes? Anyone here who has experience dealing with one?”

At that question, the faces of everyone present darkened.

“A dragon for your first battle. You all may have the makings of heroes.”

Gorgon hurriedly said that to encourage us, but he was plainly unable to hide his disappointment and unease. A lord was a lord because, in times of emergency, they led troops into battle.

But the lord here was a little girl with adorable fluffy curls.

“Now then, do not panic. The general course of action in such situations is more or less fixed. First, identify the kind of monster. If possible, buy time by sealing the tunnels. If the town is close, guide people in evacuation. In the meantime, assemble a subjugation force. And if I may add one more thing—”

Then Gorgon said,

“Ordinarily, the beastfolk are made to stand on the front lines as walls of flesh.”

At those words, Iiria, who had been shaken in Kururu’s arms, put on the face of a lord.

“I won’t allow that. Marks, what about further information?”

“My people are pretty confused too. Still, there’s no certainty it’s a dragon, but it does seem true that some huge monster appeared. Beastfolk are starting to come back into town in bits and pieces, but they’re all the ones who dropped everything and ran, so there’s no organized information.”

“Hmm. From the sound of it, the monster may still be sleeping.”

“Sleeping?”

“They say monsters are like infants that grow by breathing in the thick miasma of the mine. There was talk of sealing the tunnels, yes? Most likely, while digging one of the tunnels, they caught sight of a monster’s tail or something. I don’t know how much time that gives us, but perhaps we may gain some.”

That made the next concern whether it could be subjugated safely at all.

“Wouldn’t it work to just fire magic at it while it’s sleeping?”

“In theory, there is no being that could not be killed that way. But it is deep inside the mine. If you mean to say that you have no intention of coming back alive, then yes, perhaps.”

Kururu looked as though she wanted to say something, but held her tongue.

“Ordinarily, one draws the monster out and subjugates it outside. I do not know if it is true, but I have heard that if a monster’s blood or flesh remains in the mine, new monsters are more likely to arise. So unless you intend to shut the mine down, even killing it must be done with care.”

“Ugh…”

“Well, if we contact the provincial capital, there must surely be people there who serve in battle. At any rate, we have no choice but to summon them with haste and seek their advice.”

After saying that, Gorgon added quietly,

“That is, if they arrive in time.”

“Yorinobu.”

At Kururu’s voice, I snapped back to myself.

At this point, I was the master of the largest trading company in Jirenu Territory.

I summoned one of the company errand boys who had been waiting in the mansion and wrote a letter.

“If there are any merchant ships in the harbor, pile on as many gold coins as it takes and hire them. If there aren’t, then secure fishing boats and rowers and send word to the Bax Company.”

At the moment, they were the only ones we could rely on. If the mine could no longer operate, then Cole too would lose an enormous source of profit, so he ought to lend us his full support.

What frightened me was the huge debt we would be creating, but it had to be better than losing everything.

“Um, would it get the point across if I write that a monster has appeared in the mine and we need a specialist in war? A request for magicians, or perhaps something like soldiers?”

At my question, Gorgon stroked his goatee thoughtfully.

“If there are people who specialize particularly in subjugating monsters, so much the better. If there is a chance it is a dragon, then they should be sought without hesitation. People who devote themselves to such an eccentric profession are called—”

I wrote Gorgon’s words into the letter as though carving them there.

Adventurers.

Oh, glorious figures of fantasy!

By the time I entrusted the letter to the boy, one of Marks’s companions had come in carrying more and more information in turn. It seemed beastfolk were fleeing the mine one after another.

I felt relieved to hear that Kengo was safe, but the news that the monster had appeared deep in the tunnel of the new vein, and that the likelihood of it being a dragon was high, weighed heavily on me.

And according to those who had actually seen it in the darkness of the mine, the scales lit by candlelight had been a blazing red.

Red scales were the symbol of flame.

Among magic stones, the popular ones were those engraved with flame magic circles.

If the dragon’s attribute was fire, then a great quantity of our magic stone stock would probably become completely useless.

And before long, among the mud-caked beastfolk streaming back into town, we found Kengo, utterly exhausted but with only his eyes still burning fiercely.