A Sudden Monster

Three days had passed since we left the Royal Capital. Up to this point, the journey had been eerily smooth. Right now it was break time, and the carriage had stopped while Ann was also outside stretching her wings.

“It looks like Lady Henriette is relaxing.”

“Yeah. I’m glad she doesn’t seem to be feeling unwell.”

The guards had formed a circular formation around Ann as she rested, and Rebecca and I were positioned on the outermost edge. From between the knights, I could barely see Ann, but she appeared to be smiling.

“We’ve probably covered about half the distance within the Kingdom by now.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“I’m glad it’s been going smoothly. But the hardest part is still ahead, right?”

“That’s right. We’ll probably enter it in a few hours. It’s supposed to be a narrow road surrounded by a dim forest, so we should watch out for sudden monster attacks. If they’re hiding among the trees, we might not notice them until they leap at us.”

“That’s true. Let’s be careful.”

Along this road we had barely seen any monsters, let alone strong ones, so we really had to stay cautious. It had been so peaceful that our sense of alertness had lowered.

Moments like this, when you let your guard down, were the most dangerous.

“Looks like the break is about to end.”

Almost at the same moment Rebecca muttered that while looking toward Ann, I saw Ann stand up to return to the carriage.

This break went smoothly too… just as I felt relieved.

“GROOOOOAR!!”

A monster’s roar echoed from extremely close by.

“…!”

“P- Protect Lady Henriette!!”

“Hurry, get inside the carriage!”

While the panicked shouts of the knights echoed around us, Rebecca and I searched for the monster’s identity.

“Lu-Luca! Why is it suddenly this close!?”

“I don’t know! But there might be a dungeon nearby!”

Since this area was far from any settlements, even though the lord’s private soldiers likely patrolled it periodically, they would probably notice the appearance of a dungeon too late.

“That roar just now sounded like a really big monster!”

“I think so too!”

A heavy thudding sound—thud, thud—continued to echo, and every time the sound reverberated the ground trembled slightly, suggesting that the monster was enormous.

I felt cold sweat running down my back at the sudden emergency.

‘Lady Seremees. I think there’s a huge monster near where we are. Could you tell me its location and type? Sorry for the sudden request. It’s an emergency.’

‘Understood. Wait a moment.’

Lady Seremees immediately answered in a serious tone. While we waited for her reply, Ann was safely guided back into the carriage by the knights, and more than half of the knights took positions guarding the carriage. The remaining half seemed ready to deal with the monster.

“Luca-san, Rebecca-san. Do you know what kind of monster it might be?”

Lord Lancian ran up to Rebecca and me as we held our weapons toward the forest where the monster’s footsteps were coming from.

“We don’t know yet. But it’s definitely a monster of considerable size.”

“With footsteps like that… How should we move so that we don’t get in your way?”

Perhaps thinking we were more accustomed to handling monsters, Lord Lancian honestly asked for our opinion. This person really was a good man.

“If possible, we’d appreciate support from a distance.”

“Understood. Then we’ll coordinate with Rebecca-san.”

Almost at the same moment Lord Lancian nodded and stepped back, Lady Seremees’s voice reached me.

‘Luca, there’s an Earth Dragon. It’s a few hundred meters into the forest from where you are. It seems to have come out of a nearby dungeon. Judging from what I see, it’s not a dungeon that usually contains monsters that strong, so this is a rare case where a monster from deeper inside came out of the dungeon.’

‘That can happen?’

‘Occasionally, irregularities occur. The Earth Dragon is knocking down trees as it heads your way. It will probably appear in your sight in about one minute.’

‘Understood. Thank you.’

With this many onlookers around, I couldn’t use Temporary Peace or Divine Domain Interference. Winning with only my sword and divine power made me a little uneasy, but there was no choice.

For now, the only magic attribute I had revealed publicly was ice, so if possible I wanted to defeat it with ice magic… If I had to use something else, since we were near the forest it would be water or wind.

“Rebecca, it’s apparently an Earth Dragon. It’ll arrive in about a minute.”

I whispered so the knights wouldn’t hear, and Rebecca’s expression stiffened at the words Earth Dragon.

“…Earth Dragons can’t fly, right?”

“I don’t think they have wings. But despite their huge bodies they move quickly, and they’ll try to crush you with their mass or bite you, so be careful. Also… they should be able to use earth magic.”

“Got it. I’ll focus on shooting its weak points with my bow. Probably the eyes.”

“Yeah. Also, I think an Earth Dragon’s ears are a weak point too. There are small holes on the sides of its face.”

The moment Rebecca nodded at my words and raised her bow, the tree directly in front of us was knocked down, and the Earth Dragon appeared.

It looked extremely agitated… it might be hungry.