Chapter 60

“――So, to wrap things up, we’ve confirmed that it is, at the very least, an invasive species!”

As is tradition for our Knight Order, the breakfast briefing transformed into Nonoka-san’s “Biology Analysis for Dummies” lecture. Even if you can’t grasp the technical details, she always ends with a blunt summary, making it a merciful experience for the academically challenged knights.

According to Nonoka-san’s explanation, the white fur found on the cage yesterday revealed that the hairs were hollow inside. In other words, they’re filled with air. This structure provides high thermal insulation and heat retention—a characteristic Nonoka-san noted is only seen in creatures from the extreme north or south.

“Even though the northern tip of this kingdom gets cold in winter, the numbers only hit around minus 10 degrees Celsius, and the snowfall isn’t that heavy unless a cold snap hits. Therefore, there are no native creatures meant for such polar conditions.”

“So, what does that actually mean?”

“Wait, you couldn’t understand that…?”

“Nope, not a clue.”

“Don’t sound so proud of it!”

The exasperated glares of everyone around shifted not toward the knight who didn’t understand, but toward the one who had snapped at him. Why? Because everyone had already expected some idiots to show up, and they were weary of the guy who was still getting worked up over it.

Hey, don’t look at me like that. Can’t a guy dream a little dream that his colleagues might finally achieve a baseline level of intelligence? Whether that dream comes true is another matter entirely.

Incidentally, the “People Who Don’t Understand Anything” faction—which accounts for about a third of our Order—stopped moving simultaneously and strained their ears. While not knowing something is embarrassing, I think those who pretend to know while desperately trying to scavenge information are even more pathetic.

Regardless, Nonoka-san was used to this.

“If you heard that chickens or penguins were flying freely through the sky, what would you think?”

“Hahaha! Nonoka-san, that’s impossible!!”

“Exactly. It’s the same thing. There’s no way it should be here.”

“…Oh! So that’s it!!”

The analogy was slightly off, but since idiots are easily caught by such tricks, it made things easy.

“By the way, what’s a penguin?”

“Bevion-kun, cover his mouth, would you? Right, let’s move on~”

Nonoka-san must have realized that engaging him would be a never-ending cycle, so she opted for a sudden gagging maneuver. You might think that’s going too far, but once an idiot gets derailed, they never find their way back to the main point, so it can’t be helped.

Whether you pity the man now reduced to muffled “Mmph! Mmph!” sounds behind Bevion’s hand or dismiss it as his own fault depends on the person. Perhaps he too was a victim of an unequal society where he never had the chance to study…

Anyway, putting that aside, I caught a glimpse of a very interesting scene at the next table.

“Wow, Nonoka-san, you’re around the same age as me but you know so much about animals!”

The person speaking was Busse from yesterday. Seated next to him was Captain Akina—the woman who had nearly made him cry—sporting a double-layered scowl of low blood pressure and irritability. Busse, radiating an aura of wanting to make up, was stealing glances at her with upward, tentative eyes, but the Captain pointedly looked away.

Then, the “kind” Senior Senega (at least to him), who was sitting on Busse’s other side, poked the Captain’s shoulder with a suspicious, smiling grin.

“Captain Akina, someone’s talking to you.”

“…Nonoka is just small; she’s well past being an adult.”

“Is that so!? That’s, well, a mystery of the human body… City people are full of enigmas. Thanks for telling me, Akina-san!”

“Tch, I only haven’t ignored you because the official orders haven’t come in yet… don’t get too familiar with me.”

“Getting familiar is part of the job, Captain Akina. Come on, smile, smile!”

“You’re totally enjoying this, aren’t you!!”

Senior Senega, who was almost certainly taunting her, was operating at normal capacity today. However, that sour face was admittedly terrible to show an outside collaborator, so even Senior Njya, who usually complains about Senega’s behavior, remained silent this time.

Apparently, through Senior Senega’s maneuvering, it had been decided after the incident that Busse would accompany Captain Akina. Thanks to that, Busse was desperately trying to break the ice with her… but as you can see, the Captain’s mood was currently plummeting down a steep slope, and his attempts at conversation were met with nothing but stony silence.

Sensing with a child’s intuition that he wasn’t welcome, Busse’s eyes began to water at an accelerating rate.

“Akina-san… do you really hate me after all…?”

“Captain Akina, if you make him cry, I, Senega, will report it and ensure a pay cut.”

“Captain Akina, if you make him cry, the Cooking Squad has reached a consensus to reduce your rations for a while!”

“Captain Akina, if you make him cry, I, Yagara, as a mature adult with a sense of ethics, will have to question your suitability as a knight. No, really, this is just as one human being to another, regardless of rank or position, you see? I have absolutely zeroooo ulterior motives.”

“What’d you say!? Why am I getting… argh, dammit!”

And there it was: the concentrated fire of a total siege.

As expected, the Cooking Squad backed the boy. Yagara had also somehow sniffed out the situation and sided with him, though in his case, he probably just wanted to lower the Captain’s internal performance rating. It was a good example of how even poison can be medicine if used correctly.

…Wait, is this the first time in a year Yagara has actually been useful to someone else?

“Listen, kid!! I don’t like or hate you particularly!! It’s just that if you’re too persistent, it’s annoying, so just stay quiet!! Here, don’t cry, you’re a man!!”

“Sob… R-Really? You don’t hate me, for real…?”

“…Tch, yeah, for real! I’m just, uh, having a bad day today!!”

Her encouragement was blunt and handled him like a sensitive wound, but the pure and innocent Busse took her words at face value, and his face brightened instantly. Whoa, even though it wasn’t directed at me, it’s blinding!?

“I’m so glad… I’ve been worried since yesterday that I’d made you mad, Akina-san! Since I’m usually alone on the mountain, I don’t really know how to interact with people well…”

“I don’t think it’s your fault, so stop talking so much!! Dammit… how am I supposed to know how to handle a kid…!”

“?”

Busse looked curiously at the Captain as she agonized by herself, while Senior Senega smirked with a nasty, “this is pure bliss” look on her face.

I see. She forced this role on the Captain just so she could watch this scene.

To put it mildly, this woman is the worst. I hope karma hits her eventually.

Now, back to the talk of the white unidentified creature…

“I figured the Scouting Unit would start their reconnaissance in earnest today, but I didn’t expect the Tool Creation Squad to be called into action so soon.”

“Well… it can’t be helped, right… unexpected situations… always come with extra work… mumble.”

Back in the tool creation workshop—a place I honestly never wanted to return to—I let out a sigh while fiddling with metal fittings alongside a sleepy-looking Toma. The reason members of the Skirmish Squad like me were being forced to make tools was simply because a few knights with an aptitude for crafting had been rounded up for the task.

After everything that had happened, the plan was finalized: we would conduct the investigation and the capture of the white creature simultaneously.

Since the white creature had been destroying man-made objects, not just animal traps, it was predicted to be highly aggressive—or perhaps just intensely curious and fearless. Therefore, even though we didn’t know much about its ecology, the idea was proposed that it might be possible to catch it using traps.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this was a snowy mountain. Scent and traces of the traps would be somewhat masked by the snow, so even a slightly clumsy setup might work. The goal was to investigate while keeping the mindset that if something actually tripped a trap, it was a bonus.

“Still, I’m honestly glad we’re in a separate room from Ottoman and his two brothers. I don’t know how you can stand being in the same room as those three on a daily basis, Toma.”

“It’s fine… words I don’t need to hear… don’t enter my ears…”

Toma, a member of the Tool Creation Squad working beside me, was a sleep-obsessed individual who was either constantly asleep or looking like he was about to be. However, due to a pathological policy of balancing sleep with productivity, he was a remarkable person who had become capable of performing simple manual labor even while dozing.

Though he was my senior, we were close in age, and since he didn’t care much for hierarchy, we spoke to each other casually. Truly, he was such a sincere person once you talked to him that I might have quit the Knight Order during my first year in the Tool Creation Squad if he hadn’t been there.

“By the way, I’ve never seen a trap like this before. Apparently, it’s called a ‘snare trap’.”

“We usually just… use pitfall traps or manually hoist up nets… after all. As expected of a family that’s done trap hunting for generations… the know-how is on a different level.”

Though he sounded sleepy, Toma’s hands never slowed as he assembled the unfamiliar trap, and his voice held a faint hint of respect. This snare trap could powerfully restrain an opponent’s leg just by them stepping on a pressure plate, and it was far more compact than a Foothold Trap. Its hunting utility likely surpassed anything used by hunters near the Royal Capital.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only surprising part.

“To think a boy barely ten years old… has mastered such skill… mumble. This might be… an incredible village.”

“Yeah, it really is. Busse definitely earned his place as a collaborator for the Knight Order.”

—That’s right. The supervision of these traps was being handled entirely by Busse.

Standing before the creation squad and their helpers, he provided incredibly detailed explanations regarding the materials, structure, and precautions for setting and triggering the traps. When I was ten, I was just doing stupid things, but he was already a respectable, top-tier Trap Master—the youngest in his village.

Now, Busse had discarded his age-appropriate demeanor; with quiet eyes, he wordlessly taught Captain Akina how to craft the traps. I couldn’t help but feel that the Captain was keeping a bit of a distance from him, though.

“You hook it onto this fastener here. Yes, keep the rope as taut as possible. If it’s loose, it won’t bind properly.”

“Will a beast be able to snap this cord?”

“It’s made using a traditional braiding method, so generally, once it takes hold, even a bear can’t escape. Although… some beasts will forcibly tear off their own legs to get away.”

If a child from the Royal Capital heard that a beast’s leg might be torn off, they would likely cry out that it was “cruel” or grimace in horror. But Busse, who had faced the reality of life and death against beasts on this snowy mountain, spoke those words without a hint of hesitation.

He had seen such sights—the harrowing spectacle of an animal giving up a part of its own body just to survive. It was a profound lesson in life that even a half-baked knight had never experienced.

If I were to give my word, I’d say he was undoubtedly a fine warrior.

“…Hey.”

Suddenly, Captain Akina spoke up while she worked. The irritable furrow in her brow from this morning was gone, replaced by a serious expression as she looked at Busse.

“Yes, do you have a question?”

“—I’m sorry for treating you like a brat.”

“…Eh?”

“When I was your age, I was doing nothing but useless things. Compared to that, you’re respectable… That’s all. Don’t make me repeat myself.”

The way Captain Akina abruptly looked away made it seem like she was hiding her embarrassment. But this time, the Captain wasn’t doing it because someone told her to; she was sincerely acknowledging Busse’s existence as a boy. Her way of saying it was clumsy, though.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her tsundere-like attitude. When I looked to the side, I caught Toma’s eye.

I can’t tell if she’s being honest or not. Isn’t having a boss like that tough?

For better or worse… she’s too honest. It’s better… than a liar.

As a member of the Tool Creation Squad and as a knight, Toma let his cheeks loosen into a slight, happy smile.

But—the next moment, that quiet atmosphere was grandly swept away by Busse.

“Does that mean… are you praising me!? Wow, I’m so happy!! To be praised by a respectable person like Akina-san… and the way you praise people, it kind of reminds me of my grandpa!”

“I told you not to make me repeat myself!! And of all the things to say, you say I’m like an old man!? Don’t you have a shred of delicacy!?”

“No, no, that’s not it!! I heard my grandpa looked a lot like my mom…”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses!! I take back what I said, being a brat is plenty for you!!”

“Noooo way~~~!!”

…I guess that one was Busse-kun’s fault.

It’s rare for the Captain… mumble to get angry over… gender-related topics…

Maybe Busse was the type of kid who struggled a bit to read the room. I thought to myself as I grabbed the Captain by her collar to pull her back just as she looked ready to punch him.