Decisive Battle

This was farmland managed by Hervé, a short distance from the royal castle. It lay about three hours away by carriage, planted everywhere with golden ears of grain, but as if something had advanced straight through the middle, it had been ravaged to a miserable state.

“Lord Arthur… this is our problem. You needn’t have come all this way.”

“What are you saying? If we face one of the Five Great Calamity Beasts, my power should be useful. And Golden Wheat is precious, isn’t it?”

“To think… you would lend your strength for the sake of someone who opposed you…”

Stepping down from a carriage engraved with Hervé’s crest were Arthur and Kei, who followed close behind him. He had heard at the party that one of the Five Great Calamity Beasts had appeared and had come along with Hervé.

It was, of course, not because he was worried about the wheat Hervé treasured.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not doing this for free.”

“Yes… I understand… What is it you desire?”

At Arthur’s words, tension ran across Hervé’s face. Because one of the Five Great Calamity Beasts had already appeared, the wager with Arthur was effectively lost for Hervé.

Hervé thought Arthur had come to lend aid merely as a tactic to smooth future negotiations. So he was stunned by the next words.

“Let’s see… bring me bread and cake made from Golden Wheat on a regular basis. That will do.”

“Wh—eh… Are you serious?”

“Of course. Even I can tell this is no time for jokes.”

Yes—bread and cake made from Golden Wheat were truly delicious. So delicious he wanted to eat them regularly!! But if he used royal authority to demand precious Golden Wheat, Morgan would nag him endlessly with barbed remarks. Honestly, that was scary and a pain.

So it was better to make it so the other side offered it. Even for royalty, refusing a gift from a noble would be discourteous.

By making it look like he was reluctantly accepting what the other side offered, he could avoid Morgan’s scolding—a clever plan.

He had wanted to deal with this monster anyway, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

He touched the Good Deed Notebook tucked at his chest and grinned. The task this time was solving the food problem. If he defeated the monster here, that would resolve the food issue, and if he earned a debt of gratitude from a noble, his Good Deed Points would increase—a perfect plan.

Plus, he would get a tasty café time with Kei. He was practically giddy.

“The knights are injured. I’ll heal them quickly… Don’t forget our agreement.”

“Lord Arthur…”

Thinking it would be troublesome if they quibbled over the promise, he ignored Hervé, who looked like he wanted to say something, and headed straight to the wounded knights.

“I believe that was Lord Arthur’s true intention. He is a kind man.”

“So it seems… I misjudged him.”

When Kei spoke to the shaken Hervé, he nodded with moist eyes. Though she was only a maid—even if an exclusive one—his polite reply was his way of showing respect for Arthur.

It was no wonder. A rival faction’s leader had come to help. Hervé had even considered the worst: that Arthur might demand rights to the Golden Wheat or tell him to betray Rod.

Even so, Arthur’s healing ability in a battle against a Great Calamity Beast was too attractive to refuse.

“In that case… we must defend the Golden Wheat at all costs.”

Yet what Arthur asked for was only periodic food. He could have demanded Golden Wheat and circulated it himself to profit.

Why hadn’t he? Hervé understood. Arthur truly cared about the nation’s food situation. He probably needed no thanks at all, but that would crush Hervé’s pride. So, to avoid burdening him and to show he did not belittle the Golden Wheat, Arthur had asked for regular deliveries of bread and cake.

‘I was thinking only of wheat… but Arthur is thinking about the kingdom’s food problem as a whole. Heh, I’ve tried to keep myself from arrogance because I’m a great noble—but I still have far to go. I’ve been made aware of my smallness.’

Watching Arthur heal the knights and regretting his own words and deeds, Hervé decided he might as well try rice next time.

It was completely off the mark, but Arthur’s reputation rose.

“That’s… disgusting…”

Trying to look cool, Arthur immediately regretted coming. This monster was of the locust type. Thanks to border/port security strengthened under Morgan’s orders, their numbers were far lower than in his previous life, yet the mass of locust-type monsters swarming the wheat—chewing it to shreds as they advanced toward the Golden Wheat—was frankly unpleasant to behold.

Many soldiers swung their swords and cut down locusts, but there were simply too many, and since the enemies were small, it seemed ineffective. And the clincher…

“Take this!!”

A knight struck at an enormous locust with a gem-like core on its forehead, but with a sharp sound the sword snapped clean in two.

Then the giant locust—the “Death Parade”—let out a bizarre cry, “——!!”, and several locusts leapt at the knight who had attacked and began pecking his flesh.

‘No way… that’s cheating…’

And when attacked with magic, the gem on its brow glowed ominously and absorbed the mana. After that, the “Death Parade” seemed to grow one size larger.

“Lord Arthur… thank you for coming.”

“Since you’ve already felled two of the Five Great Calamity Beasts, Lord Arthur, the ‘Death Parade’ won’t be a match for you, right!?”

The knights, oblivious to Arthur’s sudden discouragement, murmured as if a savior had arrived. Meanwhile Arthur…

‘How am I supposed to deal with this…’

He groaned. He was royalty, after all, not a combat specialist. He had come for the Golden Wheat treats, but he had no idea how to defeat such a hard-shelled insect. Morgan had given him, for self-defense, a magic stone imbued with her ice magic, but he doubted it would help.

As he despaired, two figures approached.

“You’re…”

“You seem troubled. Allow me to repay the favor from before, Lord Arthur.”

“She says she came because she was worried about you—‘Praise me!!’—that’s what Elaine means,”

“Hey, Helene!?”

Yes—Elaine and her attendant Helene had arrived.