The Former Child Prodigy Has Someone Try To Kill Him

Darkness enveloped the forest.

Only the flames of the campfire, kept burning to ward off beasts, glowed red. Raios stared silently at the crackling fire.

It was a dangerous forest where monsters roamed. Naturally, someone had to keep watch.

But tonight alone, there was another reason.

At the end of Raios’s gaze, Ilvis could be seen asleep.

“Now that he’s sleeping, there’s not much he can do…”

Raios muttered quietly under his breath. A smile had risen to his lips.

There was a small metallic sound.

Raios had drawn the dagger at his waist.

The job was simple. He just had to approach the sleeping Ilvis and drive this dagger into his chest. Earlier, Ilvis’s extraordinary insight had gotten the better of him, but this time it was “the simple imposition of death”—there was no way to stop it.

Raios crept closer, suppressing the sound of his footsteps.

Ilvis was breathing softly in his sleep, his eyes closed. Looking down at him, Raios tightened his grip on the dagger.

He raised the blade high. Bathed in moonlight, the silver dagger gleamed dully.

(…It’s over!)

The instant he brought the dagger down in one swift motion, Raios clearly saw the scenery change at the edge of his vision.

Ilvis’s eyes flew wide open.

(—What!?)

The moment he thought that, Raios’s view spun violently. The instant he felt the world turn upside down, his back was slammed into the ground.

“Gah!?”

A huge amount of air burst from his lungs, and the dagger slipped from his hand and clattered across the ground.

In front of him sat Ilvis, his upper body raised.

At last, Raios understood what had happened.

Ilvis had suddenly sprung up and thrown Raios’s body aside.

“…Hm, hm?”

But Ilvis himself still seemed unfocused. He looked dazed with sleep, but eventually seemed to catch up to the situation, and his eyes turned toward Raios, whom he had just flung away.

Ilvis’s expression changed to shock.

“Ah, ah, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Ilvis let out a scream loud enough to echo through the night forest.

“S-sorry! Glantz-san, I suddenly threw you!”

“Ah, no… y-yes, that’s right, that surprised me…”

Even as he answered, Raios calmed himself and sorted out his thoughts. Judging by Ilvis’s reaction, it seemed he had not noticed what Raios had been trying to do…?

He needed to confirm carefully.

“Ilvis, w-why did you suddenly jump up like that?”

“…Well, um, I sensed killing intent.”

“Killing intent?”

“I think I automatically defended myself because of that. No matter how sleepy I am, I end up counterattacking.”

What the hell was that!?

Raios inwardly recoiled in fear at what a monstrous being this was.

“Um, so, Glantz-san… why were you directing killing intent at me—?”

“Ugh…!”

Raios could not answer.

That was right—normally, no one directed killing intent at a sleeping person. And if someone did, that meant—

“No, I get it, Glantz-san.”

With a loose grin, Ilvis continued.

“It was that, right? You noticed a monster’s shadow or some noise over there, right?”

“…T-that’s right. I felt like there was something there, but—it seems the commotion just now scared it off.”

“Mm, I’m sorry.”

Ilvis bowed his head.

“It looks like I reacted to that killing intent. I’m really sorry for throwing my employer like that.”

“N-no, it’s fine. I was careless too.”

Just like with the poisoned soup, it seemed Ilvis had misunderstood things in a convenient way. Saved, Raios thought with relief.

Ilvis opened his mouth.

“As an apology, I’ll take over the watch.”

“…I see. Then I’ll leave it to you. Well, really, don’t worry about it.”

After instructing the two guards, who had woken up, to go back to sleep, Raios returned to his own sleeping place and closed his eyes.

And then he quietly held a reflection meeting with himself.

(…That guy is insanely strong!)

Apparently, it was not just medicinal herb knowledge—his combat skill was incredible too. He had to admit it: that man far surpassed the strength of himself, a member of Black Dragon’s Fang.

(I guess I’ll have no choice but to sic the doping kobolds on him…)

He had originally planned to bring him to the secret experimental site used by Varnir and the others.

It was the place where they cultivated Granveil Grass—and also where they were experimenting on doping kobolds.

Even powerful ogres were toyed with by that abnormal strength—no matter how promising a rookie Ilvis was, he would stand no chance.

Confident of absolute victory, Raios closed his eyes in high spirits.

The next day, we once again set out deeper into the great forest.

By the time we reached our final destination, evening was just beginning to fall.

It was a cave carved into a rock wall.

Apparently, a special kind of moss grew deep inside this cave, and Glantz had come to investigate it.

We entered deeper into the cave.

After going further in for a while, we came to a large open space. Several paths extended from there.

“Well then, this is where we part ways.”

Glantz said something like that.

“I’ll take that path and investigate the moss deeper inside. You all go that way and gather the medicinal herbs growing at the far end. Let’s meet back here.”

With that, Glantz disappeared deeper into the cave.

“Get moving, you!”

Together with the two guards, I headed deeper into the dungeon.

After a while, another large space came into view at the end of the passage.

“Hey, underling! Go check whether there are monsters there!”

“There are.”

“Huh?”

The two men frowned at my words.

Could they not tell? It was such an obvious presence. Could they really not sense it?

…No, that was not it. They were surely testing me. Working adults really were frightening. I had to do my best as much as possible.

“I can sense presences deeper in that chamber. And also—”

There had also been several presences from a side passage halfway along the path we had just passed. I was about to report that too, but before I could, one of the men loudly cut me off.

“Shut up! If I said go, then go!”

“…No, I mean, it is definitely obvious that there are monsters there.”

“What if you’re just mistaken!? Confirm it with your own eyes! Don’t try to slack off!”

…It could not be helped. In that case, I would head farther in.

I went ahead of the two of them and entered the chamber. It was quite a large space, and the far end was sunk in darkness, making it impossible to see what lay beyond. But there was no doubt that several presences were on the other side of that dense darkness.

Then, right after that—

Peeee! A shrill whistle echoed through the cave.

When I turned around, the two guards were holding small whistles in their hands.

“What was that just now?”

“Seems it’s supposed to wake them up.”

That incomprehensible answer came back. But in response to the man’s voice, something beastlike could be heard from the depths that had been silent until now. Before long, countless yellow pairs of eyes shone in the thick darkness.

I could hear the sound of bare feet approaching, step by step.

Something emerged from the darkness.

A monster with a dog’s head—

“Kobolds…?”

“That’s right. To kill you!”

“Me…?”

“Yeah! This whole medicinal herb investigation request was all a lie! That man Glantz wants you dead. He told us to work together with the kobolds here and kill you!”