Chapter 68

“Vice-Commander! It’s an 8th-grade Golem-type monster!”

“I know.”

“The grade itself isn’t that high compared to its size.”

“Still, we can’t ignore its physical build. One swing of its arm will blow the rampart away.”

“Whew, isn’t it just a matter of not letting it get near the wall?”

“Anyway, if an 8th-grade monster has appeared, this must really be the end, right?”

Ding!

-Whoa, looks like there’s more

-Is everyone else safe?

-It’s not Game Over yet, at least

-What if they’re all dead when he gets back?

-Gasp, shivering lol

“Doesn’t seem like the end. Doesn’t look like a heroine event, either. Should we just go with option 1?”

-Yep.

-I’m feeling option 2.

-333, better go check.

“Ah, is that so? Should I tell them to head back?”

-Let’s try that.

-Go go.

“Yeah. Let’s start headin—”

“Hereiiiissssss!”

-??

-What’s that? Isn’t that Belita?

-Gasp, she’s in another man’s arms!

Another man?

He’s the reliable reinforcement the protagonist called for.

“Darian!”

-?? Do they know each other?

The moment the protagonist saw Darian’s face in the distance, his eyes went wide.
He called out to Darian with a voice mixed with relief and apology.

-Why is this so dramatic?

Darian set me down somewhat haphazardly and ran toward the protagonist to share a heated, manly embrace. I felt like I’d been dumped in the middle of nowhere for being in the way, and it didn’t feel great…

-Ahahaha lol.

-He just drops her lol.

-Confirmed: they have zero chemistry.

-Ahhh, so that’s who he was.

-You finally came!

“Darian. Thank you, thank you so much.”

The protagonist spoke while lightly patting Darian’s back.

“There’s no need to be so thankful. If it’s your command, Lord Hereis, I, Darian, would go anywhere!”

Darian thumping his chest with his fist, asking the protagonist to trust his loyalty.
The protagonist burst out laughing at the exaggerated gesture, clearly finding it amusing.

“Ah, that’s right. Please be sure to convey my thanks to Uncle Jeffrey as well.”

“Mmm… yes. Of course.”

…I’m a bit bothered by Darian’s lukewarm expression at the protagonist’s words.
It’s also strange that the Commander of the Rubel Knights is pledging such absolute loyalty to the protagonist, who has essentially left the family.

‘Well, I suppose they all thought the protagonist would become the head of the house.’

Do they view Jeffrey as some interloper who rolled in out of nowhere?

‘If Jeffrey saw this scene, he wouldn’t exactly be thrilled.’

“But Darian. I assume you didn’t come alone…”

The protagonist cast his gaze toward me.

“Ah, that’s right!”

Darian looked startled, as if he truly had forgotten I was there.

“The, uh, the Saintess insisted that we absolutely had to come this way…”

“The Saintess did?”

Arianne looked at me, wondering what was going on. I quickly recited the lines I had prepared.

“Actually, I had a dream last night. A dream where monsters ceaselessly attacked the Marquis’s estate. And I felt that it wouldn’t end until there were no living souls left inside.”

“What?”

Everyone turned pale with shock.

-Is this a Bad Ending?

-The Bad Ending parrot is at it again.

-Hey, the Saintess must have a plan.

Just as they said, there was a way to stop it. And right now, with the number of monsters thinned out, was the perfect time.

“Th-that can’t be! Saintess, you have a way, don’t you?!”

Darian grabbed my shoulders and shook them in despair until the protagonist spoke up.

“Darian. I understand how you feel, but let go of her.”

“Ah! My apologies!”

“It is quite alright.”

Unlike the fussing Darian, the rest of the party looked strangely calm. Ilian asked me in a level voice.

“I assume there is a reason you’ve graced us with your presence personally.”

I wondered why they weren’t more agitated; it seemed they had a firm belief that I would somehow find a breakthrough. Fortunately, I knew how to reward that trust.

“In my dream, I saw those Golems standing guard, as if protecting something. It was a place that looked like a cave…”

“Hoo, a place guarded by monsters…”

“I have a strong feeling that whatever the Golems are guarding is the culprit behind this incident. Unless we go there, this raid will never truly end.”

-What are they guarding?

The bit about the Golems guarding something was actually a lie to lead the protagonist to the cave. In the cave we were heading to, there would be a Mana Stone. A Mana Stone is a rock imbued with demonic energy. The specific Mana Stone found here possessed the power to drive monsters into a frenzy. In the original game, it wasn’t supposed to be discovered until after the Marquisate had already fallen.

‘If we just destroy the Mana Stone that’s enchanting the monsters, everything will be resolved.’

Hearing my words, the party fell into deep thought.

“Hmm, we’ll have to search for any cave-like terrain in this vicinity.”

“Wouldn’t Marquis Peyers or Professor Edelina know best? Perhaps we should seek their advice…”

“I agree. Vice-Commander, should we go fetch Lady Edelina?”

“…”

“Vice-Commander?”

The protagonist had a complicated expression, as if his mind was racing. He glanced sideways to check how far the Golem monsters had progressed, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. I believe I know where it is.”

“Lord Hereis, could it be?”

“Yes, Darian. You should know it too.”

“And what is it?”

Ilian, growing impatient at being left out of the loop, asked.

“There is a shelter within the Peyers estate designed to avoid monsters. It’s a secret hideout built in the past through the cooperation of two families who fought against monsters together. Its entrance happens to look like a cave.”

“…Is there no possibility it could be somewhere else?”

A secret shelter for two families built in the past. If a Mana Stone was located in such a place, it would be a very suspicious story indeed.

‘Because the person who knew that location is likely the culprit.’

If that were the case, it meant there was a high probability that someone involved with either of the two families was responsible. It was with this in mind that Ilian had asked the protagonist such a question.

‘Though, I suppose someone else could have discovered it by chance and placed it there.’

The protagonist shook his head firmly.

“I don’t believe there is any other terrain nearby where a cave could exist. However, bringing Edelina here to confirm might be one way to go about it.”

-Holy? Is the Marquis the mastermind?

-But that guy originally died.

-Then is it Edelina?

-As if lol.

I knew the protagonist would catch on. After all, in a later episode, there was a monologue where the protagonist, reading a newspaper article about the Mana Stone, thinks to himself…

‘Why of all places were traces of a Mana Stone found there…? Could it be?’

There had been a line where he made that exact guess.

“I also have a feeling Sir Hereis’s intuition is correct.”

“Hmm. If the Saintess says so…”

With that, our opinions leaned toward going to check it out. Darian remained to lead the Rubel Knights, and Ilian decided to stay behind as well to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.

“Then, please return safely, Saintess.”

Surprisingly, Ilian let me go quite easily. I had expected him to stop me, claiming it was too dangerous.

“Sir Hereis is with you, after all. I’m sure everything will work out.”

When I gave him a suspicious look, Ilian simply shrugged and spoke. Perhaps his affection for the protagonist is quite high? He was looking at the protagonist with eyes full of trust.

‘Wait, surely it isn’t higher than mine?’

I felt a strange sense of defeat for some reason…

“Well, before that, we have to take care of those first.”

“We can just do what we did earlier for that!”

“Like earlier?”

The protagonist questioned Darian’s confident statement.

“Those monster bastards—the moment they get near the Saintess, they lose their minds from her holiness! In that opening, wham! If we strike then, we can take out any monster with a hundred percent accuracy and zero damage!”

The trio of knights who had a similar experience at the Count of Garain’s estate nodded in agreement.

“We have enough attack power, so even against an 8th-grade monster, it’ll be worth a shot!”

It was just as Darian predicted. The thick, rocky skin cracked and shattered into pieces, and the Golem collapsed hollowly.

“At this rate, Sir Arianne and I can handle them on our own.”

“With the Saintess’s power, it’s a breeze.”

Arianne was delighted, saying it was so convenient to have the monsters left defenseless for even a few seconds. She mentioned that the feeling of taking down a monster in one blow made her feel like she’d actually become a Swordmaster or something.

The affection was a bonus. Before long, the boar monsters had vanished, and the number of Golems significantly decreased as we took them down one by one on our way to the cave. However, no matter how many we culled, more Golems kept popping up from somewhere, so we had to hurry, realizing it was now a race against time.

“We’re almost there.”

The protagonist, who had been sprinting easily over the smooth ground that had been ground into dust by the Golems’ feet, came to a halt at a certain spot.

“Commander, is this the right place? There’s nothing here…?”

-For real, it’s just flat ground.

-Only sand is blowing around.

“It seems the entrance was lost after being stepped on and ground down by the monsters. What the Saintess saw was likely the cave’s appearance before the attack began. But it doesn’t matter. The facility itself is underground anyway.”

Actually, I’m just grateful you’re piecing together the lie I made up based on the article you read in the future, but in the original story, the cave remained intact and was mentioned in the news. To think something that should be there has disappeared. It seems things have changed because of my actions, though I don’t know the reason why.

“It should be around here…”

“You remember it quite well.”

Ding!

“Uh… I’m curious, so let’s go with answering~.”

The protagonist continued speaking while tapping the ground with his foot.

“It’s because I used to come here often with my father, the Marquis, and Edelina. They’re happy childhood memories, so I haven’t really forgotten them.”

-Ahhh

-Well, he traded affection for satisfying curiosity, so it’s a win.

-Is it really a win, though?

“Ah… I see.”

Arianne swallowed her bitterness. She turned her back to the protagonist to hide her dark expression and began rubbing her foot against the ground…

“Oh?”

-???

“I found it! The feeling is different right here!”

-Arianne found it again lol.

-Is she a search dog or something lol.

Now that I think about it, even back at the Count’s mansion, it was always Arianne who found the hidden spots first.