57 — Chapter 57

“Excuse me. A pleasure to meet you. Since we’ll be fighting together, I thought it best to introduce myself. I’m Altari, the representative for this subjugation.”

At the words excuse me, I turned to see a man in his thirties smiling politely as he gave his name. He was formal, even courteous. But with that long, radish-shaped face and green hair, all I could think of was Horse-face Sunwar, the mercenary I’d once escorted a caravan with. When I compared their faces in my mind, the resemblance was uncanny.

“Nice to meet you too. I’m John, and this is Kain. And over there is the Black Mage.”

John greeted him brightly and even introduced us. Wait, since when had they decided on a representative? Ridiculous. My plan was simple: take down six minotaurs, prove my skill, and then claim higher-paying requests. Fighting side by side with others would only interfere with that.

“Representative? Representative? And who decided that?”

The black mage raised his head, his eerie voice curling with displeasure. Altari, the self-proclaimed representative, was at the level of Sword Expert. The four standing with him were all Paladins. Their faces stiffened slightly at the sound of the black mage’s tone, his presence enough to make them uneasy. Altari, however, though clearly unsettled, didn’t shrink as much. He frowned faintly, but his composure showed that even Sword Experts could feel the black mage’s oppressive aura.

“We decided at lunch. You three weren’t there, since you were still riding in the carriage. And…”

Altari’s explanation was calm, almost persuasive, but to me it sounded like an excuse. I didn’t like it.

“Enough. Enough.”

The black mage cut him off sharply, his irritation plain. Clearly, he found Altari’s tone as grating as I did. John, of course, just kept smiling as usual, unfazed. Sometimes I wondered how his face never cramped from all that smiling.

“Hahaha. Very well. Since there might be threats ahead, I, as representative, will take the lead. Please follow behind us.”

Altari gestured toward the group huddled in the back, smiling as he spoke.
Arrogant. Completely arrogant. Stay behind for safety? Now he was outright dismissing us. Trying to push us aside? How had it come to this?

“Do as you like. Do as you like, you little brats.”

“Wh-what did you say?!”

The black mage’s scornful tone made one of the Paladins beside Altari bristle, stepping forward in anger. Bold, sure—but I bet he was already regretting it.

“That’s enough,” Altari told him, brushing it aside with another smug remark. “Now, let’s move out. I’ll take that as settled.”

How had this man managed to gather so many under his banner? Persuasion? Empty words? I doubted it… but at the same time, it almost seemed possible.

“Everyone, gather up!”

Altari called out, and the scattered fighters began rising and moving toward him.
Since he was a Sword Expert like John, they were probably equals in rank. If not, the friction would’ve kept him from ever being chosen representative in the first place.

“Now that everyone’s gathered, let’s move out. Keep your guard up and follow me.”

At Altari’s command, twenty-six people fell into line behind him, eyes darting warily in every direction. The sight reminded me of ducklings trailing after their mother.

“Hahaha. Then please, be careful.”

Altari turned back with a broad grin as he spoke. For some reason, it was almost comical—like children playing at soldiers. When no one responded, he opened his mouth to say more.

And in that instant—

“Roooaaar!!”

“Eek!”

“Ugh!”

A tremendous roar burst from deep within the mountains, reverberating through the valley like thunder. Echoes slammed against the surrounding cliffs, and several voices cried out in shock before anyone could stop themselves. Their bodies had reacted on instinct. Lack of real battle experience, plain and simple.

The roar came from directly ahead. The minotaur must be hidden somewhere in the mountains. But could it really sense us from this distance? As far as I knew, minotaurs didn’t have perception sharp enough to detect prey so far away.

No. Ancient knowledge didn’t just turn out wrong. Had they evolved? …Ridiculous. I shook off the absurd thought.

“Everyone, calm yourselves! It was only a roar! Low-grade monsters often lack real power, so they roar to intimidate instead. This minotaur is no different, so rest assured!”

Altari halted, raising his voice to steady the shaken group. He wasn’t wrong. Almost all lesser monsters relied on such tactics, using sound to unsettle their enemies. It was a kind of instinctual warfare.

“Calm yourselves, and we’ll continue. Stay even more alert this time!”

Seeing the group settle, Altari pressed on. Still, one or two people couldn’t hide their nervous glances at the surroundings.

“Roooaaar!!”

Again, the chest-rattling cry echoed from ahead. But this time, those who flinched merely gave a shiver or jumped slightly. Nothing more.

“Creepy and loud, huh?”

John spoke as if chilled, though his face showed no such thing. True, the noise was loud—but to me, it wasn’t frightening. Just an irritating racket. Compared to the Demon Realm, where countless fiends shrieked cries that gnawed at the soul and muddled my mind, this was nothing.

Why was I even thinking of that place again? I shook my head, driving away the memory. The past was something I never wanted to recall. Even if the gods had blessed the Human Realm with the gift of forgetfulness, this was one thing that would never fade into oblivion.

Still… when had minotaurs been reduced to “lesser monsters”?

“What do we do now?”

John looked at me, curious. What do we do? We kill every last minotaur, of course. Just not yet.

“Wait. Take it easy. It’s not time.”

I swept my gaze over the group marching straight down the center, then sat down calmly. Charging headlong into the open was stupidity. With twelve minotaurs, they’d eventually converge on the middle, surrounding anyone caught there. That would make an efficient fight impossible.

Even with four Sword Experts and twenty-three Paladins, being encircled by twelve hulking minotaurs would make it nearly impossible to fight at full strength.

Still, when I glanced at John, he looked completely unconcerned—lounging as if this were nothing more than a picnic.

The black mage still toyed with his staff. Then I noticed something interesting: a faint trickle of other-dimensional mana was leaking out of the gray wood he held.

What was that about? I shelved the question for now, because another sensation pushed forward.

The minotaurs were on the move. And there weren’t twelve—there were thirteen. The mayor had said twelve. Had one more joined them in the meantime?

In any case, they’d shown a hint of cunning in their positioning. All thirteen had spread out at even intervals, forming a wide encirclement around this clearing. And that ring was tightening.

My plan was to loop along the ridge and pick them off. At worst I’d face three at a time.

“Now. Follow me.”

I rose and angled toward the outer right edge. The black mage slipped in behind me without a word. John dusted off his pants and followed as well, this time sticking to my rear instead of my side.

I had half expected resistance. Instead, the black mage fell in line. Unexpected.

A low, rolling rumble swelled from every direction—then many more, all at once.
Thirteen voices shook the clearing, as if they were trying one last time to seize the initiative.

So this was their final attempt at intimidation. Judging by how fast their auras were shifting, that seemed likely.

But why was I second-guessing myself? Since when had I been replacing certainty with guesses?

Was my realm still too low?

“ROOAARR!”

A sky-splitting bellow crashed over us again. More than half of the fools trudging down the center clapped hands to their ears, wincing. Amusingly, one of them was a Sword Expert. Far too little real combat experience.

I spared the idiots a glance, then swept my eyes across the ring of mountains.

Maybe it was my time in the Demon Realm, but my senses had become razor-sharp.
If there was a human at my level on this continent, I doubted they’d match my perception.

I widened my awareness. The minotaur pack was advancing, shrinking the circle. Trying to cinch a net?

Pointless at this range. That was the difference between monsters and humans—the depth of thought.

Feeling their approach from all sides, I spoke in a low voice.

“Follow me if you want to die.”

Either way, I needed to finish this quickly and get paid. No reason to waste time.

I shut my mouth and kicked into Lightfoot, slipping into the trees along the slope.

“Huh?”

John’s puzzled voice came from behind, but I ignored it and summoned my blade the moment I entered the mountain brush.

“Black. Summon.”

A thread of mana left my middle dantian, and weight settled familiarly into my hand. Clenching my grip around the hilt, I cut through twiggy obstacles barring the way and moved forward. Only the wind whispered at my ear; my own footfalls made no sound at all.